The meaning of a phrase for us is
characterised by the use we make of it. The meaning is
not a mental accompaniment to the expression. Therefore
the phrase “I think I mean something by
it”, or “I'm sure I mean something
by it”, which we so often hear in philosophical
discussions to justify the use of an expression is for us no
justification at all. We ask:
“
What do you mean?”,
i.e., “How do you use this
expression?” If someone taught me the
word “bench” and said that he sometimes or always
put a stroke over it thus:
“
bench”, and
that this meant something to him, I should say:
“I don't know what sort of idea you
associate with this stroke, but it doesn't interest me
unless you show me that there is a use for
110.
the stroke in the kind of
calculus in which I wish to use the word
“bench”. ‒ ‒ ‒ I want to play
chess, and a man gives the white king a paper crown, leaving the
use of the piece unaltered, but telling me that the crown has a
meaning to him in the game, which he can't express by
rules. I say: “as long as it
doesn't alter the use of the piece, it hasn't what
I call a meaning”.