Consider this example: Suppose we had taught a man to use
the words “green”, “red”,
“blue” by pointing to patches of these colours.
We had taught him to fetch us objects of a certain colour on being
ordered
, “Bring me something
red!”, to sort out objects of various colours from a
heap, and such like.
Suppose we now shew him a heap of leaves, some of which are a
slightly reddish brown,
others a slightly
greenish yellow, and give him the order, “Put the red
leaves and the green leaves on separate heaps.”
It is quite likely that he will upon this
94.
separate the greenish yellow
leaves from the reddish brown ones.
Now should we say that we had here used the words “red”
and “green” in the same sense as in the previous cases,
or did we use them in different but similar senses?
What reasons would one give for adopting the latter view?
One could point out that on being asked to paint a red patch, one
should certainly not have painted a slightly reddish brown one, and
therefore one might say “red” means something different
in the two cases.
But why shouldn't I say that it had one meaning only but was,
of course, used according to the circumstances?