>and indeed if every single connection is asserted, i.e. "everything means something", then there is no value in any connection. I think "every single connecti

>and indeed if every single connection is asserted, i.e. "everything means something", then there is no value in any connection. I think "every single connection is asserted" would equate to "everything means everything". "Everything means something" would be rather: "for every thing, a connection from that thing to another thing (but not every other thing) is asserted". And in that case, there is no loss of value in the connections that are there. Similarly I would say that "some propositions are not true" is also a statement about the meaning of propositions. A relation of negation is also a relation. That said I do agree that e.g. when we have a relation from A to B, adding a relation from B to C also can be said to change the meaning of A/the connection from A to B. I was perhaps over-simplifying. >I'm a little perturbed by this [...] "Illusion" does not have to mean "completely worthless and fake", it can also mean simply "different than initially thought". I'm certainly not as nihilistic as you may fear, if only because I also still like to read texts, and apparently derive value from it :) > analytical vs. continental I'm aware, I'm not against the continental style when done well, but that doesn't mean an analytical-style reaction to a continental-style argument can't be productive. In this case I had the feeling that two separate uses of the word "meaning" were being conflated without justification, and shining some light on that would show where the argument went wrong. Or: I had the feeling that the author was unaware of the conflation of two separate uses of the word "meaning" in the general culture he is critiquing, and might find some answers to his questions by being more aware of these distinctive uses. Or: the general culture itself is not aware of conflating these two uses and this is the phenomenon that might be analyzed in response to the worries raised in TFA.