Use–mention distinction

Common card · No. 337886

In the field of analytic philosophy, a fundamental distinction is made between the ordinary use of a term (a word, name, phrase, etc.) and the mention of it. The distinction between using and mentioning a term can be illustrated with the English word cheese below: Cheese is derived from milk. Cheese is derived from the Old English word ċēse. The first sentence is a statement about an edible product of milk-producing animals. It uses the term; the writer is using the English word in its standard way to refer to the common dairy product. The second is a statement about the very word itself. This second sentence instantiates a mention; the writer is mentioning the word but not using it to refer to anything other than itself. Invoking the use–mention distinction can sometimes seem pedantic, especially in simple cases where it is obvious what is being referred to. However, scholars argue that many philosophical works have been misguided, or misinterpreted by others, based on a failure to understand...

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