Meaning in behavioral analysis.

Abstract

Meaning is a mentalistic concept in linguistics and philosophy. Linguists assert that a behavioral analysis cannot explain this abstract and deep feature of language. However, behavioral analysis can offer a natural science account of meaning. Meaning is a function of the controlling relation between the antecedents, the verbal behavior, and the consequences that follow. Meaning is indeed abstract because it is neither a mental entity, nor a property of language, nor a content of linguistic structure, nor is it what language represents. Gaining access to the meaning of utterances is the same as gaining access to their controlling relations. The concept of Meaning, as defined in terms of the controlling variables of verbal operants, serves no further purpose.