Re: Philosophical Ramblings Thread
Monty, the way I look at it...
Semantics has not evolved through studies (like math)... Instead the language has evolved, and semantics are doing it's best to explain and categorize it.
It's an artificial structure used to explain something very much NOT artificial, that also is evolving (language, in all its forms).
Also, I see language a little as a garden. You try to control it, but no garden will ever look the same, the year after. No matter how much you try.
Does that mean we should do no gardening? Of course not! The gardening is needed to be able to communicate ourselves to our surrounding, with any hope of being understood.
Thus, semantics isn't useless, still. It's very much needed.
If it changes the way we think... Of course it does.
The semantics we used, are what we have learnt that most people around us would accept as being [whatever].
Take "water", being raised in Hawaii, you see it as warm and bath friendly. Possibly shark infected. Move to Sweden, and the same word translates to something that is cold, often icy, and not shark infested. Move to the Sahara, and you learn that it's sparse and getting enough of it can be a problem...
Moving back to Hawaii, you will still use the word "water", but your own concept of what it is has changed tremendously... And you will react when people around you still automatically refer to it as something warm and plentiful, as it now contradicts with your understanding of it.
A silly example, but I hope it helps explaining my point.
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