"Things" have definitions - that is the words that are attached to them and the definition of those words as found in a dictionary - and "meanings". What I mean by Meaning here is what goes on in my mind when I think about that particular thing. So, if you ask me what a tree is, I would try and define it or refer you to the definition in a dictionary. If you ask what tree means to me it is a collection of images, definitions and connections which, if I tried to describe, would come out as a disjointed stream of consciousness which would be only a feeble precis of what is actually in my mind. If I am going to talk about something, it is the definitions that matter. If I am going to think about something, it is the Meaning that matters. Another person will have a different but related Meaning in their minds. We might use the definition to check that we were talking about the same thing.
The Meanings of different things are all linked together to form a vast network in a topological space. Removing a Meaning would mean deleting links and reducing the extent and richness of that area of Meaning space.
It is a bit like Wikipedia where each entry has individual words linked to other entries.
I image myself swimming about in Meaning space, rich with detail, but under a layer of ice that nobody else can see through. When I say a word to you it is like sticking a pole through the ice into an arid definition space, it then pokes through the ice points to a particular place in your Meaning space.
If we are having a discussion about trees, your Meaning space is different to mine but, provided it maps sufficiently well onto definition space, we can have a Meaningful discussion. If you had never experienced a tree meaningful discussion would be impossible without educating you about trees. This education would need to fill in details such as information about leaves, branches, wood, bark, collections of trees such as forests and how they all relate to one another.
Thus, when I think about something, it is the Meaning that is important. For me this would include memories of particular trees, that I have climbed, fallen out of, picked fruit from, cut down and made things out of wood from.
Meanings are unique to the individual. and can only be explored by that individual. Meaning space is outside science but it is where we live.
In particular, if I think creatively, it happens in Meaning space and, in general, the richer this is the further I can go.
John Greenwood
5/12/08