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Reference without Referents (Hardcover, New)
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Reference without Referents (Hardcover, New)
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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 and pronouns 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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