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Pragmatically Determined Aspects of What is Said: A Reply to Bezuidenhout
Author(s) -
GRIMBERG MARY LOU
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0017.1996.tb00054.x
Subject(s) - demonstrative , referent , philosophy , truth value , linguistics , epistemology , copula (linguistics) , value (mathematics) , argument (complex analysis) , meaning (existential) , computer science , machine learning , biochemistry , chemistry
If ‘a’ and‘b’are (proper) names and if the meaning of a name is exhausted by its referent, how can‘a = a’differ in cognitive value from‘a = b’if‘a = b’is true? This is Frege's famous puzzle and Bezuidenhout reconstructs it using demonstrative NPs in place of names, i.e.: This X is that X.’Her solution is to posit the‘truth‐conditional relevance’of the de re modes of presentation of such expressions. My major objection is that Bezuidenhout's examples are such that the NP to the right of the copula is anaphoric rather than demonstrative and cannot, therefore, support her argument.