intensionalism

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noun

The belief that language acquires meaning from thought or belief, which is fundamentally non-linguistic, and that propositions are therefore independent of language.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

nounintensionalism (uncountable)
  1. uncountablehuman sciencesThe belief that language acquires meaning from thought or belief, which is fundamentally non-linguistic, and that propositions are therefore independent of language.

    The first step in showing the irrelevance of Mates's problem is to separate Frege's intensionalism from intensionalism per se .

    1986, Ernest LePore, Truth and Interpretation, page 62
    2 more examples

    Intensionalism in modern logic and linguistics begins in the way he demonstrated the point. For as "the Morning Star" and "the Evening Star" have different senses—i.e., objective linguistic content—so do statements.

    1999, William C. Dowling, The Senses of the Text, page 47

    It is sometimes supposed that extensional propositions—in particular Russellian propositions, which are adopted in some neo-Millian views about proper names—are incompatible with intensionalism and presuppositionalism.

    2004, Jerrold J. Katz, Sense, Reference, and Philosophy, page 115

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

intensionalism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intensionalism

MLA

“intensionalism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intensionalism. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “intensionalism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/intensionalism.

Source: intensionalism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.