Naming and Necessity
Naming and Necessity

Author: Saul A. Kripke

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780674598461

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If there is such a thing as essential reading in metaphysics or in philosophy of language, this is it. Ever since the publication of its original version, Naming and Necessity has had great and increasing influence. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of reference, in particular of naming, and of identity. From a critique of the dominant tendency to assimilate names to descriptions and more generally to treat their reference as a function of their Fregean sense, surprisingly deep and widespread consequences may be drawn. The largely discredited distinction between accidental and essential properties, both of individual things (including people) and of kinds of things, is revived. So is a consequent view of science as what seeks out the essences of natural kinds. Traditional objections to such views are dealt with by sharpening distinctions between epistemic and metaphysical necessity; in particular by the startling admission of necessary a posteriori truths. From these, in particular from identity statements using rigid designators whether of things or of kinds, further remarkable consequences are drawn for the natures of things, of people, and of kinds; strong objections follow, for example to identity versions of materialism as a theory of the mind. This seminal work, to which today's thriving essentialist metaphysics largely owes its impetus, is here published with a substantial new Preface by the author.

Proper Names
Proper Names

Author: Michael Fletcher Maumus

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13:

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In the wake of Saul Kripke's landmark Naming and Necessity, the claim that proper names are directly referential expressions devoid of descriptive content has come to verge on philosophical commonplace. Nevertheless, the return to a purely referential semantics for proper names has coincided with the resurgence of the very puzzles which motivated so-called description theories of proper names in the first place---to wit, the failure of substitutivity for co-referential names in propositional attitude ascriptions, the informativeness of true identity statements involving co-referential names, and the meaningfulness of negative existential discourse. In the following I argue in favor of what I dub Metalinguistic Description Theory, which holds that the meaning of typical uses of the name type 'NN' to be given by the definite description 'the phi bearer of 'NN'' (where phi is a contextually determined sortal which speakers use to disambiguate the reference of names with multiple bearers). This analysis, I contend, provides an ultimately novel solution to the principal puzzles for the Direct Reference theory of proper names which, nevertheless, avoids the devastating arguments which felled the classical description theories of Frege and Russell.

A Dictionary of First Names
A Dictionary of First Names

Author: Patrick Hanks

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2006-07-27

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0191578541

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This Dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format. The fascinating and informative Dictionary of First Names covers over 6,000 names in common use in English, including the very newest names as well as traditional names. From Alice to Zanna and Adam to Zola this book will answer all your questions: it will tell you the age, origin, and meaning of the name, as well as how it has fared in terms of popularity, and who the famous fictional or historical bearers for the name have been. It covers alternative spellings, short forms and pet forms, and masculine and feminine forms, as well as help with pronunciation. The book includes extensive appendices covering names from languages including Scottish, Irish, French, German, Italian, Arabic, and Chinese names. Tables of the most popular names by year and by region are also included. From the traditional to the rare and unconventional, this book will tell you everything you need to know about names.

Causal Theories of Reference for Proper Names
Causal Theories of Reference for Proper Names

Author: Nicolae Sfetcu

Publisher: MultiMedia Publishing

Published:

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 6060333095

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Presentation and comparison of the main causal theories of reference for proper names, and a proposal of a new approach based on the analogy of the causal chain of reference with the block chain from blockchain technology and Paul Ricœur's narrative theory. After a brief Introduction in which the types of sentences from the concept of possible worlds are reviewed, and an overview of the theory in the Causal Theory of Reference, I present the causal theory of the reference proposed by Saul Kripke, then two hybrid causal theories developed by Gareth Evans and Michael Devitt. In the section Blockchain and the causal tree of reference I present my idea of developing a new causal theory of reference for proper names through a causal tree of reference. In the Conclusions I talk about the further development of the ways in which the terms of reference could refer to certain objects and individuals, the main criticisms of the causal theories, and suggestions for future development. CONTENTS: Abstract Introduction 1. The causal theory of reference 2. Saul Kripke 3. Gareth Evans 4. Michael Devitt 5. Blockchain and the causal tree of reference Conclusions Bibliografie DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.26330.90562

The Reference and Content of Proper Names
The Reference and Content of Proper Names

Author: Yimin Kui

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Abstract: The goal of my dissertation is to propose and defend a unified account of the semantic content of proper names that can address all the following six problems facing various theories of proper names: The Modal Argument, the Epistemic Argument, the Semantic Argument, Frege's Puzzle, Belief Puzzles, and Empty Names. I first defend a theory of reference concerning proper names. I argue that for every proper name, there is a structured web of community uses associated with it. Among the objects involved in the Kripkean causal network of the name, the object that stands out as the dominant bearer of the web of community uses is the referent of the name. Roughly, an object becomes the dominant bearer of the web of uses, if it either satisfies or causes the weighted most of the properties/uses in the web. Secondly, I examine Nathan Salmon's and Scott Soames's defenses of the direct reference theory. For their strategies to succeed, they need the assumption that all the properties/beliefs (or at least the specific ones) in the web of community uses of a name are pragmatically imparted information and thus semantically irrelevant information. I adduce various examples to show that there are cases where we have strong intuitions that even specific properties/beliefs can collectively be semantically relevant. And I try to find good reasons to support and explain these intuitions. Thirdly, I propose that the meaning of a name N can be given like this. N means the object that is the dominant bearer of the web of community uses in this (rigidified) world. On the surface, this is a version of rigidified cluster theory. However, I contend that in order to use this theory to solve all the aforementioned difficulties and more importantly, in order to understand our linguistic practices involving proper names, we must emphasize the indispensable roles played by social and pragmatic factors. Indeed, I submit and explain that in essence, this is a social, historical, holistic, and pragmatic viewpoint.

Reference Without Referents
Reference Without Referents

Author: Richard Mark Sainsbury

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0199241805

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Reference is a central topic in philosophy of language. This book sets out a new approach to the concept, which promises to bring to an end some long-standing debates in semantic theory. It also includes an historical survey. It will be of interest to those working in logic, mind, and metaphysics.