Polysemy
Polysemy (or the concept as I shall use it) is the view that all words or concepts have multiple meanings. This would seem nonsensical to some critics because the whole point of a concept is to isolate a single and precise meaning. Thus we might suppose that some word could be used to express multiple concepts; for example, “bank” can pick out a financial institution or land beside a river. (There is the further ambiguity of whether “bank” is therefore one word or two words.) But my long experience as both a wordsmith and a philosopher has convinced me that no concept itself is singular in its meaning. Insofar a this is an empirical issue I can at once point to an interesting empirical study that would seem to bear out my contention in spades, to wit: Many social and legal conflicts hinge on semantic disagreements. Understanding the origins and implications of these disagreements necessitates novel ...