Category: Language, Philosophy of
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Direct Reference: On the Intention to Use a Name as Previously Used
Most direct reference theories of proper names would seem to be committed to the following four theses: 1. A proper name denotes, designates, refers to, its nominatum directly without the mediation of any properties. There is no description or disjunction of descriptions satisfaction of which is necessary for a name to target its nominatum. Accordingly, ordinary…
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How Does a Direct Reference Theorist Deny the Existence of God?
First of all, how does an atheist deny the existence of God? Well, he might just assertively utter 1. God does not exist. But suppose our atheist is also a direct reference theorist, one who holds that the reference of a name is not routed through sense or mediated by a Russellian definite description that gives the sense…
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Gale on Baptizing God
Richard M. Gale, On the Nature and Existence of God (Cambridge UP, 1991), p. 11 : First, because God is a supernatural being, he seem to defy being indexically pinned down or baptized. There are no lapels to be grabbed hold of by a use of 'this.' Some would contend that we can ostensively…
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A Searle-y Objection to the Causal Theory of Names
Yesterday I argued that whether 'God' and equivalents as used by Jews, Christians, and Muslims refer to the same being depends on one's philosophy of language. In particular, I suggested that only on a causal theory of names could one maintain that their respective references are to the same entity. The causal theory of names,…
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The God of Christianity and the God of Islam: Same God?
One morning an irate C-Span viewer called in to say that he prayed to the living God, not to the mythical being, Allah, to whom Muslims pray. The C-Span guest made a standard response, which is correct as far as it goes, namely, that Allah is Arabic for God, just as Gott is German for God.…
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‘Frege’ on the Trinity
Peter Lupu writes, The following are some recent thoughts about the Trinity. Let me know what you think. The three expressions of the Trinity: ‘The Father’, ‘The Son’, and ‘The Holy Spirit’ all refer to the same divine being namely God. Thus, with respect to reference, each pair of expressions forms a true identity. However,…
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‘He’s His Father’s Son’: More on Tautologies That Ain’t
Riding my bike the other afternoon, it occurred to me that 'He's his father's son' is yet another example of a phenomenon I have noted before, namely, a broadly tautological form of words which is standardly employed to express a decidedly nontautological proposition. Taken literally, in accordance with sentence meaning (as opposed to speaker's meaning)…
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Univocity, Equivocity, and the MOB Doctrine
Here is another argument that may be banging around in the back of the heads of those who are hostile to the doctrine that there are modes of being, the MOB doctrine to give it a name: 1. If there are modes of existence, then 'exist(s)' is not univocal.2. If 'exist(s)' is not univocal, then…
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De Dicto/De Re
In the course of thinking about the de dicto/de re distinction, I pulled the Oxford Companion to Philosophy from the shelf and read the eponymous entry. After being told that the distinction "seems to have first surfaced explicitly in Abelard," I was then informed that the distinction occurs: . . . in two main forms:…
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Self-Reference and Individual Concepts
The following can happen. You see yourself but without self-recognition. You see yourself, but not as yourself. Suppose you walk into a room which unbeknownst to you has a mirror covering the far wall. You are slightly alarmed to see a wild-haired man with his fly open approaching you. You are looking at yourself but you don't…
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George Shearing Dead at 91
Kerouac aficionados will recall the "Old God Shearing" passage in On the Road devoted to the late pianist George Shearing. Here is a taste of his playing. And another. You will have noticed, astute reader that you are, that my opening sentence is ambiguous. 'The late pianist George Shearing' must be read de re for the sentence to…
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The Primacy of the Intentional Over the Linguistic
Following Chisholm, et al. and as against Sellars, et al. I subscribe to the broadly logical primacy of the intentional over the linguistic. But before we can discuss the primacy of the intentional, we must have some idea of (i) what intentionality is and (ii) what the problem of intentionality is. Very simply, (mental) intentionality is…
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Representation and Causation, with Some Help from Putnam
1. Materialism would be very attractive if only it could be made to work. Unfortunately, there are a number of phenomena for which it has no satisfactory explanation. One such is the phenomenon ofrepresentation, whether mental or linguistic. Some mental states are of or about worldly individuals and states of affairs. This fact comes under…
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On Reference: An Aporetic Septad
We can divide the following seven propositions into two groups, a datanic triad and a theoretical tetrad. The members of the datanic triad are just given — hence 'datanic' — and so are not up for grabs, whence it follows that to relieve ourselves of the ensuing contradiction we must reject one of the members…
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Of ‘Of’
As useful as it is to the poet, the punster, and the demagogue, the ambiguity of ordinary language is intolerable to the philosopher. Disambiguate we must. One type of ambiguity is well illustrated by the Old Testament verse, Timor domini initium sapientiae, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 'Of' functions differently in 'fear…