实体四因说和语义后验性

Aristotle’s Four-Cause Theory and Semantic Posteriority

古希腊时期的“实体四因说”和与之相颉颃的近代自然科学的“因果决定论”思想格格不入,前者虽然不能纳入现代科学的逻辑框架中,却蕴含丰富的理论和实践价值。二者在语言研究当中的投映所带来的最直接也是最重要的方法论思考是体验主义和规则主义的分歧。相对于规则主义,体验主义具有可感知性和可验证性的特点。与传统的名词语义描述方法相比,由“实体四因说”抉发出的物性角色这种体验实证性知识对语义分析理解具有较强的解释操作力。强调语义分析和加工应该关照人们的社会体验感知的本体论语义学思想亦是由“实体四因说”所衍生。

The“four-cause theory”in ancient Greece is incompatible with the theory of“causal determinism”in modern natural science.Although the former cannot be incorporated into the logical framework of modern science,it contains rich theoretical and practical value.The direct and important methodological thinking brought about by the reflection of the two theories in language research is the difference between“experientialism”and“routinism”.Compared with“routinism”,“experientialism”has the characteristics of perception and verification.Different from the traditional semantic descriptive method of nouns,such experiential knowledge as qualia role based on“four-cause theory”has strong explanatory power in semantic analysis and understanding.The ontological semantics,which emphasizes that semantic analysis and processing should take care of people’s social experience and perception,is also derived from the“four-cause theory”.