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Reference without Referents (Paperback, New edition)
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Reference without Referents (Paperback, New edition)
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Reference is a central topic in philosophy of language, and has
been the main focus of discussion about how language relates to the
world. R. M. Sainsbury sets out a new approach to the concept,
which promises to bring to an end some long-standing debates in
semantic theory.
There is a single category of referring expressions, all of which
deserve essentially the same kind of semantic treatment. Included
in this category are both singular and plural referring expressions
("Aristotle," "The Pleiades"), complex and non-complex referring
expressions ("The President of the USA in 1970," "Nixon"), and
empty and non-empty referring expressions ("Vulcan," "Neptune").
Referring expressions are to be described semantically by a
reference condition, rather than by being associated with a
referent. In arguing for these theses, Sainsbury's book promises to
end the fruitless oscillation between Millian and descriptivist
views. Millian views insist that every name has a referent, and
find it hard to give a good account of names which appear not to
have referents, or at least are not known to do so, like ones
introduced through error ("Vulcan"), ones where it is disputed
whether they have a bearer ("Patanjali") and ones used in fiction.
Descriptivist theories require that each name be associated with
some body of information. These theories fly in the face of the
fact names are useful precisely because there is often no overlap
of information among speakers and hearers. The alternative position
for which the book argues is firmly non-descriptivist, though it
also does not require a referent. A much broader view can be taken
of which expressions are referring expressions: not just names
andpronouns used demonstratively, but also some complex expressions
and some anaphoric uses of pronouns.
Sainsbury's approach brings reference into line with truth: no one
would think that a semantic theory should associate a sentence with
a truth value, but it is commonly held that a semantic theory
should associate a sentence with a truth condition, a condition
which an arbitrary state of the world would have to satisfy in
order to make the sentence true. The right analogy is that a
semantic theory should associate a referring expression with a
reference condition, a condition which an arbitrary object would
have to satisfy in order to be the expression's referent.
Lucid and accessible, and written with a minimum of technicality,
Sainsbury's book also includes a useful historical survey. It will
be of interest to those working in logic, mind, and metaphysics as
well as essential reading for philosophers of language.
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