Abstract
A number of philosophers continue to argue, inthe spirit of Keith Donnellan’s classic paper“Reference and Definite Descriptions,” thatthere is more to the semantics of definitedescriptions than Russell’s theory predicts. If their arguments are correct, then a completesemantic theory for sentences that containdefinite descriptions will have to provide morethan one set of truth conditions. A unitaryRussellian analysis of sentences of the form`the F is G’ would not suffice. In this paper,I examine a recent line of argument for thisanti-Russellian conclusion.Unlike earlier Donnellan-style arguments, thenew argument does not rely upon the mereexistence of referential uses of definitedescriptions or the possibility of conveyinginformation about an object by misdescribingit. I argue, however, that we ought to rejectthis new line of reasoning and rest contentwith a Russellian theory of definitedescriptions.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Bach, K. (1987): Thought and Reference, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Bach, K. (1999): ‘The Myth of Conventional Implicature’, Linguistics and Philosophy 22, 327–366.
Devitt, M. (1981): ‘Donnellan’s Distinction’, in P. French, T. Uehling and H. Wettstein (eds.), Midwest Studies in Philosophy VI (pp. 511–524),Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Donnellan, K. (1966): ‘Reference and Definite Descriptions’, Philosophical Review 77, 281–304.
Grice, H.P. (1967): ‘Logic and Conversation’, in H.P. Grice (ed.), Studies in the Way of Words, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.
Kripke, S. (1977): ‘Speaker's Reference and Semantic Reference’, in P. French, T. Uehling and H. Wettstein (eds.), Contemporary Perspectives in the Philosophy of Language (pp. 6–27), Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Neale, S. (1990): Descriptions, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Ramachandran, M. (1995): ‘Methodological Reflections on Two Kripkean Strategies’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society XCV, 67–81.
Ramachandran, M. (1996): ‘The Ambiguity Thesis Versus Kripke’s Defence of Russell’, Mind and Language 11, 371–387.
Recanati, F. (1989): ‘Referential/Attributive: A Contextualist Proposal’, Philosophical Studies 56, 217–249.
Recanati, F. (1991): ‘The Pragmatics of What Is Said’, in S. Davis (ed.), Pragmatics: A Reader (pp. 97–120), New York: Oxford University Press.
Reimer, M. (1998a): ‘Donnellan’s Distinction/Kripke’s Test’,Analysis 58, 89–100.
Reimer, M. (1998b): ‘The Wettstein/Salmon Debate: Critique and Resolution’, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 79, 130–151.
Salmon, N. (1982): ‘Assertion and Incomplete Definite Descriptions’, Philosophical Studies 42, 37–45.
Salmon, N. (1991): ‘The Pragmatic Fallacy’, Philosophical Studies 63, 83–97.
Sperber, D. and Wilson, D. (1995): Relevance: Communication and Cognition, 2nd edn., Oxford: Blackwell.
Strawson, P. (1950): ‘On Referring’, Mind 59, 320–344.
Wettstein, H. (1981): ‘Demonstrative Reference and Definite Descriptions’, Philosophical Studies 40, 241–257.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Feit, N. Russellianism and Referential Uses of Descriptions. Philosophical Studies 115, 99–122 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025098005593
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025098005593