Are you convinced that the meaning of words are how they are used, not some definition, image, or object?

I do believe that the meaning of words is how they are used. I've had an interesting opportunity to teach English to 2 of my children, who were adopted from Russia almost 5 years ago. They were ages 10 & 11 when they arrived here. There have been many times when I have had to try and explain why the word we use in one sense may not be the one we use in another sense. For example, the word "glass." (There's an episode of Star Trek, TNG, that portrays this.) We use the same word for window, a drinking tool, a vision enhancement, a description (i.e. 'smooth as glass') . . . it is in the way we use the word 'glass' that it's meaning becomes clear.

The task of philosophy: perhaps it is nothing more than a name we have assigned to the human thought process. Humans have been thinking about their environment and circumstances since the beginning of time. Eventually, perhaps, humans being what they are, they had to give the process a name. Then they had to begin a competition for it. They had to devise ways to "prove" that their explanations and reasons were correct. Why do we insist on being "right?" Cannot there be more than one "right" answer to many questions? I think this class has proven that indeed there are many "right" answers. And each philosopher we've studiend though he had discovered it!