3.3 Proper names and definite descriptions

Names and descriptions are crucial tools for referring to people and things. Names directly point to specific individuals, while descriptions use unique features to identify them. This distinction impacts how we understand and use language in everyday communication.

The debate over how names and descriptions work gets philosophical. Some say names are just labels, while others argue they carry deeper meaning. These ideas shape our understanding of language and reference in interesting ways.

Proper Names and Definite Descriptions

Proper names vs definite descriptions

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• Proper names identify specific individuals, places, or things (John, London, Mount Everest)
• Definite descriptions use the definite article "the" followed by a noun phrase to uniquely identify an individual, place, or thing (the tallest mountain in the world, the current President of the United States)

Semantics of names and descriptions

• Proper names are rigid designators that refer to the same individual in all possible worlds
  • Lack descriptive content
  • Directly refer to their referents without the mediation of a sense or meaning
• Definite descriptions are non-rigid designators that may refer to different individuals in different possible worlds
  • Possess descriptive content
  • Refer to their referents via the satisfaction of the descriptive content (the tallest mountain refers to Mount Everest because it satisfies the description)

Reference in names and descriptions

• Proper names reference via:
  1. Direct reference theory - proper names directly refer to their referents without the mediation of a sense or meaning
  2. Causal-historical theory - the reference of a proper name is determined by a causal chain of communication originating with an initial baptism event (a baby named "John" at birth)
• Definite descriptions reference via:
  1. Russellian theory - definite descriptions are quantified expressions that assert the existence and uniqueness of an individual satisfying the descriptive content
  2. Fregean theory - definite descriptions have both a sense (descriptive content) and a reference (the individual satisfying the descriptive content)

Philosophical debates on name meaning

• Millian view holds that proper names have no meaning beyond their referents (the meaning of "Aristotle" is exhausted by the individual Aristotle)
• Fregean view argues proper names have a sense (mode of presentation) in addition to their referents (the sense of "Aristotle" is a set of descriptive properties associated with Aristotle)
• Kripke's causal-historical theory challenges the Fregean view by arguing that proper names are rigid designators
  • The reference of a proper name is determined by a causal chain of communication originating with an initial baptism event, not by a set of descriptive properties