Indexicals

Abstract

In this chapter I want to turn away from proper names and towards another class of singular expressions, the class of indexicals. I shall, for the time being, be focusing on syntactically simple indexicals, that is, the so-called pure indexicals (expressions such as ‘I’, ‘today’, ‘here’) and simple demonstratives (’this’, ‘that’ etc.); I’ll come on to discuss complex demonstratives (‘this cat’, ‘that moose’) towards the end of the book.¹ I also want to raise a caveat here: I shall not be directly concerned with the anaphoric uses of indexicals and demonstratives (although they will be mentioned in passing). A proper theory of indexicals should be able to provide a unified account of anaphoric and non-anaphoric uses, and I believe that, suitably developed, the story I’ll outline below should provide the basis of just such a theory of indexicals. Working out that suitable development, however, will have to wait for another book.