Words, expression, sentences, signs, symbols can all have meaning, but the nature of meaning is a difficult question to answer. When a symbol has meaning, it seems to refer to some thing in the world, but how is this possible? For example, the word “bird” seems to refer to those animals that fly around and “Enlightened Worldview” seems to refer to this website, but how does this phrase actually refer to anything? Is this all in the mind? Is this a social construct? If so, how it is constructed? Some will say that there is language of thought, which can be called mentalese, that all meaning proceeds from. Others disagree with this idea.

One thing that should generally be accepted by everyone is that it is possible for one to convey a meaning to another, because communication must be possible. It is self-defeating to deny this.