Referring without individuating the referent
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10690876 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ayoob Shahmoradi (0000-0003-3521-6760, University of California San Diego, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publication date | 2024-12-14 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Philosophical Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8094 • E-ISSN: 1467-9213 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pq/pqae145 |
| OpenAlex | W4405409618 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 15 |
A theory of reference attributed to Frege, Russell, and others holds that referring to an object requires the ability to uniquely individuate it. According to a famous story told around campfires on winter nights, a group of young revolutionaries, led by Kripke and Donnellan, was destined to tear down the Frege–Russell edifice of reference—and indeed, they did. Reflecting the spirit of the 60s and 70s, this makes for a compelling tale. However, the truth is that what these young revolutionaries actually did was to merely suggest a type of reference largely ignored by others. The norms of success for this type of reference, constrained by its specific profile, cannot be generalized to all reference. Moreover, it presupposes a more fundamental kind of reference that lacks this distinctive profile
Linguistics · Referent · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology · Speech and dialogue systems
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |