i disagree with this. the symbol “X” may stand for “the symbol ‘X’ in my mind” when you are explicitly thinking “what does the symbol of X stand for in my brain” and you cleverly return “well, it is simply a symbol and i should recognize that and treat it as such.”
but in the practical functioning of your mind, the symbol stands for much more than itself. if, when confronted with the input “X”, your brain returned “the symbol X,” that would be wholly useless (and possibly send the computational portion of your mind into a recursive loop). “X” must stand for a some concept outside of “X” for it to serve a purpose in your mind.
a symbol existing solely for the sake of itself with no attachments outside of itself is mentally useless.
“the map is not the territory” has stuck in my mind as one of the over-arching principles of rationality. it reinforces the concept of self-doubt, implies one should work to make their map conform more closely to the territory, and is invaluable when one believes to have hit a cognitive wall. there are no walls, just the ones drawn on your map.
the post, “mysterious answers to mysterious questions” is my favorite post that dealt with this topic, though it has been reiterated (and rightly so) over a multitude of postings.
link: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2007/08/mysterious-answ.html