The Thoughts Of Locke In Systemic Functional Linguistics [5]

Russell (1961: 590):

Chapter VI of Book III, 'Of the Names of Substances', is concerned to refute the scholastic doctrine of essence.  Things may have a real essence, which will consist of their physical constitution but this is in the main unknown to us, and is not the 'essence' of which scholastics speak.  Essence, as we can know it, is purely verbal; it consists merely in the definition of a general term.  To argue, for instance, as to whether the essence of body is only extension, or is extension plus solidity, is to argue about words: we may define the word 'body' either way, and no harm can result so long as we adhere to our definition.  Distinct species are not a fact of nature, but of language; they are 'distinct complex ideas with distinct names annexed to them'.  There are, it is true, differing things in nature, but the differences proceed by continuous gradations: 'the boundaries of the species, whereby men sort them, are made by men'.

Blogger Comments:

Through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics, experience is construed as meaning, and meaning is realised by wording.  Through mental processes, we project meanings (ideas); through verbal processes, we project wordings (locutions).

It is because there is difference in experience that the ability to construe difference in meaning is of survival value for members of the species.