CATHERINE BELSEY THE POST-MODERN CRITIC

Meaning is not at our disposal, or we could never communicate with others. We learn our native language, and in the process learn to invoke the meanings other people use. Small children find out from those who already know how to distinguish ducks from squirrels: ducks are the ones that fly. And children make mistakes: aero planes fly, but they are not ducks. Glory is not a nice knock-down argument.