"For true and false are attributes of speech, not of things," writes Hobbes (AT 15). The use of language is facilitated by words with constrained meanings, which causes truth and falsehood to became attributes of language necessarily. This is why Hobbes insists on clarifying definitions, because the the first abuse of speech is in "wrong, or no definitions" which lead to "false and senseless tenets" (AT 15). Could our proclivity towards seeking truth and falsehood by nothing more than a excessive compulsion engendered by the nature of language itself?
Furthermore, Hobbes writes later that "Understanding is nothing else but conception caused by speech," meaning specifically that understanding is solely the comprehension of the correct meaning and signification of words used in speech. Is then our understanding limited to only those things expressible in language, and also only valuable in as much as it is practical? It seems that this is the case if truth and falsehood of speech and of our understanding depend not on anything in nature but are only fabrication of the mind.
Additionally, could the fact that language necessarily ascribes each object a specific word meant to encompass its fundamental quality be responsible for our desire to assign each object a universal essence or being?
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