Premium
WHAT'S IN A ( N EMPTY ) NAME?
Author(s) -
ADAMS FRED,
DIETRICH LAURA A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
pacific philosophical quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.914
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1468-0114
pISSN - 0279-0750
DOI - 10.1111/j.0279-0750.2004.00191.x
Subject(s) - proper noun , philosophy , meaning (existential) , modality (human–computer interaction) , linguistics , onomastics , causal theory of reference , epistemology , computer science , artificial intelligence
This paper defends a direct reference view of names including empty names. The theory says that empty names literally have no meaning and cannot be used to express truths. Names, including empty names, are associated with accompanying descriptions that are implicated in pragmati‐cally imparted truths when empty names are used. This view is defended against several important objections having to do with differences in names, descriptions associated with the names, and considerations of modality. The view is shown to be superior to an alternative theory treating empty names as the “descriptive names” of Kripke and Evans.