The Stoics on Lekta: All there is to say

After Plato’s Forms, and Aristotle’s substances, the Stoics posit the fundamental reality of lekta, the meanings of sentences, distinct from the sentences themselves. It is the first time in the tradition of Western philosophy that what is signified is properly distinguished from signs and signifiers. This book explores the many implications of this distinction which gives an existential autonomy to lekta. Language can only ever express meanings, but what happens to meanings which are there, ready to be said but which are never actually expressed? The book analyses the deep shift in ontological paradigm required by the presence of lekta in reality. A unique, complex, and consistent cosmic view is revealed in which the lekta are the keystones of the structure of reality. This means that we cannot not speak or think in terms of lekta, and for this reason, they are all there is to say. The Stoic position has ignited many fiery debates in antiquity and in modern times. The Stoics were the first to be concerned with questions about language and grammar, and the first to put the relation of language to reality at the heart of the enquiry into human understanding, and the place of man in the cosmos. These questions remain central to this day in life and philosophy.