Consequences of Reference Failure

Michael McKinsey's Consequences of Reference Failure is about Direct Reference (DR) and empty names (i.e., names that don’t refer). Chapter 1 sketches some background. According to DR, a name's semantic content—what it contributes to propositions expressed by sentences containing it—is its referent. (McKinsey restricts DR to cases where names are used as names and allows for exceptions. I touch on these exceptions at the end but ignore them for now.) According to DR, the semantic content of ‘Socrates’ is Socrates, and (1) Socrates is wise. expresses a proposition that can be represented as (1p) . If ‘Santa’ is an empty name, then according to DR ‘Santa’ has no semantic content. McKinsey argues that DR theorists should accept The No Proposition View (NP), on which sentences containing empty names don’t express propositions. If ‘Santa’ is an empty name, then according to NP (2) Santa is wise. expresses no proposition. Since a sentence has a truth-value only if it expresses a proposition with that truth-value, (2) is neither true nor false.

Content (measure theory) · Epistemology · Linguistics · Proper noun · Proposition · Referent · Sentence · SOCRATES · Truth value · Value (mathematics) · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science