Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:54:51.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Kripke's Objections to Description Theories of Names

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Michael McKinsey*
Affiliation:
Wayne State University

Extract

In “Naming and Necessity” Saul Kripke describes some cases which, he claims, provide counterexamples both to cluster theories and, more generally, to description theories of proper names. My view of these cases is that while they do not provide counterexamples to cluster theories, they can be used to provide evidence against single-description theories. (I count as single-description theories both “short-for-descriptions” theories of the Frege-Russell sort and what I shall call below “fixed-by-attributes” theories.) In this paper I shall defend both of the claims involved in my view.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] De Sousa, R. B.Kripke on Naming and Necessity.Canadian Journal of Philosophy 3 (1973-4), 447464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2] Donnellan, Keith S.Proper Names and Identifying Descriptions.Synthese 21 (1970), 335-58.10.1007/BF00484804CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3] Evans, Gareth. “The Causal Theory of Names.” Part I of a symposium with Altham, J. E. J.. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume 47 (1973), 187208.10.1093/aristoteliansupp/47.1.187CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4] Kripke, Saul A.Naming and Necessity,” and “Addenda.” In Semantics of Natural Language, Davidson, D. and Harman, G. eds. (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1972): 253355; 763-69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5] McKinsey, Michael. “Names and Intentionality.The Philosophical Review 87 (1978).10.2307/2184751CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6] Russell, Bertrand. The Problems of Philosophy (New York: Galaxy Books, 1959).Google Scholar
[7] Searle, John. “Proper Names.” Reprinted in Philosophy and Ordinary Language, Caton, Charles ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1963), 154-61.Google Scholar
[8] Searle, John. “Proper Names and Descriptions.” In The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edwards, Paul ed. Volume 6 (New York: Collier-MacMillan, 1967), 487-92.Google Scholar
[9] Searle, John. Speech Acts (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1969).10.1017/CBO9781139173438CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[10] Strawson, P. F. Individuals (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1963).Google Scholar
[11] Yoshida, R. M.De Sousa on Kripke and Theoretical Identities.Canadian Journal of Philosophy 5 (1975), 137-41.10.1080/00455091.1975.10716102CrossRefGoogle Scholar