TY - BOOK ID - 303785 TI - Singular Reference: A Descriptivist Perspective PY - 2010 SN - 9789048133116 9789048133123 9789048133147 9789400730984 9048133114 9400730985 9786612839344 1282839349 9048133122 PB - Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands : Imprint: Springer, DB - UniCat KW - Theory of knowledge KW - Philosophy of language KW - Linguistics KW - Philosophy. KW - Language and languages—Philosophy. KW - Philosophy of mind. KW - Linguistics. KW - Ontology. KW - Metaphysics. KW - Logic. KW - Philosophy of Language. KW - Philosophy of Mind. KW - Theoretical Linguistics. KW - Argumentation KW - Deduction (Logic) KW - Deductive logic KW - Dialectic (Logic) KW - Logic, Deductive KW - Intellect KW - Philosophy KW - Psychology KW - Science KW - Reasoning KW - Thought and thinking KW - God KW - Ontology KW - Philosophy of mind KW - Being KW - Metaphysics KW - Necessity (Philosophy) KW - Substance (Philosophy) KW - Linguistic science KW - Science of language KW - Language and languages KW - Mind, Philosophy of KW - Mind, Theory of KW - Theory of mind KW - Cognitive science KW - Philosophical anthropology KW - Methodology KW - Theoretical Linguistics / Grammar. KW - Linguistique KW - Philosophie UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:303785 AB - Singular reference to ourselves and the ordinary objects surrounding us is a most crucial philosophical topic, for it looms large in any attempt to understand how language and mind connect to the world. This book explains in detail why in the past philosophers such as Frege, Russell and Reichenbach have favoured a descriptivist approach to this matter and why in more recent times Donnellan, Kripke, Kaplan and others have rather favoured a referentialist standpoint. The now dominant referentialist theories however still have a hard time in addressing propositional attitudes and empty singular terms. Here a way out of this difficulty emerges in an approach that incorporates aspects of the old-fashioned descriptivist views of Frege, Russell and Reichenbach without succumbing to the anti-descriptivist arguments that back up the current referentialist trend. The resulting theory features a novel approach to the semantics and pragmatics of determiner phrases, definite descriptions, proper names and indexicals, all treated in uniform fashion in both their anaphoric and non-anaphoric uses. This work will be of interest to researchers in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and theoretical linguistics. The wealth of background information and detailed explanations that it provides makes it also accessible to graduate and upper level undergraduates and suitable as a reference book. ER -