Is the meaning of "only that" similar to "unless"?
For example:
This does not mean that it is freely chosen, in the sense of the autonomous individual, only that there is popular agency in the hegemonic valuations of marketplace society, unlike in customary and command societies.
Best Answer
Depending on context, "only that" as a transitional phrase can mean several things. Consider this extract from Rhys Prichard, "Advice and Warning to the Adulterer" (written by 1644), published in The Morning Star, or Divine Poems of Rees Prichard (1815):
In both instances here, "only that" means something along the lines "for the sole purpose that."
In contrast, Henry Mackenzie, The Man of the World (1773) reprinted in The Works of Henry Mackenzie, Esq., volume 8 (1808) has this:
Here, "unless that" means (matching the meaning that Kris suggests in a comment above) "except that."
Lennox Robinson, from an unidentified play in Plays (1928) [combined snippets] offers this:
Here, "only that" means simply "nothing more than that."
Emily Lawless, Grania: The Story of an Island (1892) has this:
Here, "only that" can be understood either to mean "nothing more than that" or (with a stronger sense of contrast) "instead, that."
And Edmond Gastineau, Edgar Livingston: A Story of New York (1897) has this:
Here, "Only, that" means "However, that."
In the OP's example,
"only that" seems to mean, as tchrist suggests in a comment beneath the question, "rather, it means simply that." Expressed at greater length, the sense of that sentence is approximately as follows: