64 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 



which the referential property is attached ; (2) the referential 

 property, which somehow connects the event which is the 

 symbol with another event which is that referred to by the 

 symbol; and (3) the psychological interpretation of this 

 referential property when it enters into the awareness of an 

 individual. In order to make these three features clear they 

 may be discussed in greater detail in connection with some 

 particular symbol, say, the word "circle." 



(1) Every symbol is an event or happening. It may con- 

 sist of a written word made up of particles of ink arranged 

 in a certain pattern; it may be a noise uttered by a person 

 in an act of communication; it may be a drawing, or pho- 

 tograph, or a material model; it may be a group of mathe- 

 matical symbols. Thus in the example one might replace 

 the written word "circle" by the spoken word, or by a pic- 

 ture of a circle, or by the equation x 2 + y 2 = r 2 ; in all such 

 cases one would have what might be called physical sym- 

 bols of a circle. On the other hand, the symbol might con- 

 sist simply of the gesture of pointing to a circle, or of the 

 mental image which a given individual has of a specific 

 circle; in the former case the symbol would be called biologi- 

 cal, and in the latter case psychological. But in all cases 

 the symbol would be an event occurring roughly at a time 

 and place, and capable of analysis and description by the 

 ordinary techniques of science. Ideally there would be a 

 strict correlation between the properties of the symbol as a 

 mere event and its meaning. Actually this is not the case 

 since in language the same word may have different mean- 

 ings, and different words may have the same meaning. 

 There is, however, some correlation between the two; at 

 least one cannot determine what the symbol means until he 

 has ascertained its character as a physical, biological, or 

 psychological entity. Often this recognition is spontaneous, 

 but it is presumed in each individual case. 



(2) Every symbol refers to something other than itself. 1 



1 This is not strictly true. For example, " word " refers to itself as well as to some- 

 thing other than itself. 



