Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T13:58:01.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Two Theories of Names

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2010

Gabriel M. A. Segal
Gabriel M. A. Segal
Affiliation:
King's College, London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The aim of this paper is to assess the relative merits of two accounts of the semantics of proper names. The enterprise is of particular interest because the theories are very similar in fundamental respects. In particular, they can agree on three major features of names: names are rigid designators; different co-extensive names can have different cognitive significance; empty proper names can be meaningful. Neither theory by itself offers complete explanations of all three features. But each theory is consistent with them and goes some way towards explaining them.

Type
Papers
Information
Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements , Volume 51 , March 2002 , pp. 75 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy and the contributors 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burge, T. 1973. ‘Reference and proper names’, The Journal of Philosophy, 70, 425–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burge, T. 1974. ‘Demonstrative constructions, reference and truth’, The Journal of Philosophy 71, 205–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burge, T. 1980. ‘Truth and singular terms’, in M., Platts, (ed.).Google Scholar
Burge, T. 1989. ‘Wherein is language social’ in A., George, (ed.) 175–92.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. 1986. Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin and Use, New York, Praeger.Google Scholar
Davidson, D. 1977. ‘Reality without reference’ Dialectica 31, 247–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, D. 1979. ‘The inscrutability of reference’ The Southwestern Journal of Philosophy 10, 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, A. (ed.) 1989. Reflections on Chomsky, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, J. 1989. ‘Wherein is language social’, in A., George (ed). 153–79.Google Scholar
Evans, G., 1973. ‘The causal theory of names’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supp. Vol., 47, 187–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, G. 1982. The Varieties of Reference, Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Hall, D. G. 1996. ‘Preschoolers default assumptions about word meaning: proper names designate unique individuals’, Developmental Psychology, 32, 177–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, D. G., 1999. ‘Semantics and the acquisition of proper names’. In Jackendoff, R., Bloom, P., & K., Wynn (eds) Language, Logic, and Concepts: Essays in honor of John Macnamara. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Harman, G. 1972. ‘Logical form.’ Foundations of Language, 9, 38–65.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, J. 1985. ‘On semantics’, Linguistic Inquiry, 16, 547–93.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, J. 1996. ‘Linguistic theory and davidson's programme in semantics’ in LePore, E. (ed.), Truth and Interpretation: Perspectives on the Philosophy of Donald Davidson, Oxford: Blackwell 29–48.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, J. 1988. ‘Contexts, models and meaning: a note on the data of semantics’ in Kempson, R. (ed.) Mental Representations: The Interface between Language and Reality, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 29–48.Google Scholar
Katz, N., Baker, E. and Macnamara, J. 1974. ‘What's in a name? A study of how children learn common and proper names’. Child Development, 469–73.Google Scholar
Larson, R. and Segal, G. 1995. Knowledge of Meaning: An Introduction to Semantic Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longobardi, G. 1994. ‘Reference and proper names: a theory of N-movement in syntax and logical form’ Linguistic Inquiry, 25:4, 609–65.Google Scholar
McDowell, J. 1977. ‘The sense and reference of a proper name’, Mind, 86, 159–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, J. 1980. ‘A problem about continued belief’, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 5, 533–42.Google Scholar
Platts, M. (ed.), 1980. Reference, Truth and Reality, London: Routledge, Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Quine, W. v. O. 1990. The Pursuit of Truth, Cambridge MA., Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Valentine, T., Brennan, T and Bredart, S. 1996. The Cognitive Psychology of Proper Names: On the importance of being Ernest, London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar