In a very boring sense, “I’m wearing socks” is constructed, in that wearing, socks, and maybe even I are arbitrary labels.
Still, you didn’t construct the meaning yourself when you read the sentence. It was constructed by society, and you appealed to that context to interpret what I meant.
You might respond that the social context under-determines the meaning of words. That’s true. But even so, we mostly understand each other in ordinary conversation. At that level, Phil Goetz’s question is meaningful (if not particularly interesting to me).
In a very boring sense, “I’m wearing socks” is constructed, in that wearing, socks, and maybe even I are arbitrary labels.
Still, you didn’t construct the meaning yourself when you read the sentence. It was constructed by society, and you appealed to that context to interpret what I meant.
You might respond that the social context under-determines the meaning of words. That’s true. But even so, we mostly understand each other in ordinary conversation. At that level, Phil Goetz’s question is meaningful (if not particularly interesting to me).