Meaning: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Our ability to use written and spoken signs to mean things is so integral to the kind of creatures we are, we seldom notice how incredible this ability is. Yet on reflection, meaning seems entirely mysterious. What is meaning? How do our words get to mean anything at all? These are the questions that drive this book.

Emma Borg, Professorial Research Fellow, University of London,Sarah A. Fisher, Lecturer, Cardiff University

Emma Borg is Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, London. Previously she was at the University of Reading (where she had been Director of the Reading Centre for Cognition Research and Head of Department). Her research deals with the relationship between meaning and context, and the nature of communication and reasoning. She has held two major Leverhulme awards and served as the White Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Philosophy, University of Chicago. Emma also works in business ethics and serves as an Independent Advisor to the Professional Standards Committee of His Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Sarah A. Fisher is a Lecturer at Cardiff University. Her work investigates how subtle differences in language affect our judgements and behaviour-and what this implies for the nature of meaning, communication, and thought. She has published articles in a range of philosophical and interdisciplinary academic journals.