An attempt to find foundations for a science of symbolism, and in particular linguistic symbolism, resulting in a general communicative and contextual theory of meaning. Among the topics discussed are: a causal theory of interpretation, the functions of language, an analysis of the notion of 'meaning', the problem of definition, linguistic reference and contextuality, etc. The book includes a supplement: see: B.Malinowski (1923: 'The problem of meaning in primitive languages').