Uvjeti mogućnosti razumijevanja
Conditions for Mutual Understanding

Summary/Abstract: This paper closely analyzes the prerequisites for (mutual) communication. Having in mind the diversity of mental contents that every individual relates to particular words or phrases, it is quite amazing that we can understand each other at all. Here, we refer to the problem of mutual understanding between speakers of the same language. The problem is considerably greater when different languages are involved; they not only use different words but also frequently express and systematize (categorize) the world and our experience in different ways. In approaching the problem, we have paradigmatically used the fundamental ideas of four distinguished philosophers of language, who have actually articulated four very different approaches to the problem in question, although they do not, more or less explicitly, deal with this problem in particular. However, their analysis of language sheds a specific light upon this difficult problem and helps finding a solution for it. Finally, we have also offered a conclusion in which – based on the previously presented ideas – we try to surmount the thematized difficulty of mutual understanding.

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