I have elsewhere argued (Ariel, 2002) against the assumption that we can identify one literal meaning per sentence. Instead, I have suggested that there are (at least) three types of minimal meanings, each differently motivated. One implicit motivation behind the classical definition of literal meaning (Grice’s ‘what is said’) is a wish to capture the core content of sentences. I here examine d...

Abstract Workplace chaplaincy, a concrete manifestation of workplace spirituality, is defined as pastoral care serving the specific needs people in workplaces. While scientific publications have so far emphasized its beneficial implications, scrutiny possible instrumentalization chaplaincy by management has been neglected. can signify real integration spirituality implying debate on meaning lif...

‘Then’ as one of conjunctions, has many usages in Arabic language. Since one of its usages is in the religious texts and the Holy Quran so that its different usages effect on the style, meaning, and concepts, and also, due to the sensitivity and significance of the Holy Quran, understanding the exact meaning of this conjunction, i.e. ‘then’, and studying its various stat...

How do children infer the meaning of a word? Current accounts of word learning assume that children expect a word to map onto exactly one concept whose members form a coherent category. If this assumption was strictly true, children should infer that a homophone, such as ”bat”, refers to a single superordinate category that encompasses both animal-bats and baseball-bats. The current study explo...

In this paper two scales of a personality questionnaire, extraversion and neuroticism, are analyzed using a family of latent trait latent class models. The items are responded to in one of three categories: “yes”, “?”, or “no”. The results show that one single measurement model does not suffice in describing the data. More specifically, the meaning of the “?” response category is not invariant ...

The lexicon has long been assumed to be the source of all conceptual content expressed by sentences. Syntactic structures have correspondingly been seen only as providing instructions for the assembly of the concepts expressed by words. Under this view, sentences have meaning, but the syntactic structures which sentences instantiate do not. This paper challenges this view: it uses the phenomeno...

meaning of the word which based on the context is one of the hermeneutic rules. according to these rules, every context has a central meaning that the author has intended. as well, commentators of the text have to know this central meaning. after the revelation of the holy qur'an, some words of the qur'an have found new meaning. some of the commentators of the qur'an attribute th...

the extent of “benefits”, as the subject of khums, is one of the controversial discourses among the imāmī jurists, which is of great importance because of its applicability. the “acquired benefits” and “benefits in general” are the two significant views in the discourses concerning khums. in this research, the evidences for any of these two views are critically reviewed. for the first view, two...

two meanings regarding the principality of existence (isālat al-wujūd) can be inferred from the works and words of mulla sadra. one meaning is the objectivity of existence and essence on which many issues of transcendental philosophy are based. this meaning has deep philosophical consequences and implications. it seems that this meaning causes certain problems which make its acceptance tricky. ...