Azamat, People observe the intension/extension distinction without learning the name for the distinction. AA>It implies that operational meanings or definitions could be more significant than an intension/extension or representation/reference or connotation/denotation dichotomy. Languages developed thousands (millions?) of years before writing, and writing was used for a few thousand years before anybody started to write definitions in any kind of language or logic. For that matter, every infant learns language from use, not from definitions. But whatever meaning is learned may begin as extensional (particular names for individual persons or things) but children very quickly generalize them to kinds of individuals. The intensional meanings are generalizations learned from patterns of usage. Summary: Intensional meanings are essential for generality. People use the intensional meanings in the same way that they speak prose without knowing the word for what they do. John
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