Descriptions and beyond / edited by Marga Reimer and Anne Bezuidenhout.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Reimer, Marga.

Bezuidenhout, Anne.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and languages--Philosophy.

Language and languages.

Linguistics.

Physical Description:

xi, 655 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.

Summary:

In 1905, Bertrand Russell published 'On Denoting' in which he proposed and defended a quantificational account of definite descriptions. Forty-five years later, in 'On Referring', Peter Strawson claimed that Russell was mistaken: definite descriptions do not function as quantifiers but (paradigmatically) as referring expressions. Ever since, scores of theorists have attempted to adjudicate this debate. Others have gone beyond the question of the proper analysis of definite descriptions, focusing instead on the complex relations between definites, indefinites, and pronouns. These relations are often examined with attention to the phenomena of scope and anaphora.

This collection assembles nineteen new papers on definite descriptions and related topics. The contributors include both philosophers and linguists, many of whom have been active participants in the various debates concerning descriptions. The volume contains a brief general introduction and is divided into six sections, each of which is accompanied by a detailed introduction of its own. Several of the sections concern issues associated with the Russell/Strawson debate. These include the sections on incomplete descriptions, the referential/attributive distinction, and presupposition and truth value gaps. There is also a section on the representation of definites and indefinites in semantic theory, containing papers that reject certain core assumptions of the Russellian paradigm. Linguists interested in definites have traditionally been concerned with how such expressions interact with other expressions, including pronouns and indefinities. They have explored, and continue to explore, these interactions through the complex phenomena of scope and anaphora. In the section dealing with anaphoric pronouns and descriptions, a number of linguists propose and defend their views on these and related issues. Finally, there is a section that concerns the relation between proper names and descriptions and, more particularly, the idea that some names, those introduced into the language by description, are semantically equivalent to definite descriptions.

Contents:

I. Incomplete Descriptions 7

1. Descriptions and Situations / Francois Recanati 15

2. An Abuse of Context in Semantics: The Case of Incomplete Definite Descriptions / Ernie Lepore 41

3. This, That, and The Other / Stephen Neale 68

II. The Referential-Attributive Distinction 183

4. Descriptions: Points of Reference / Kent Bach 189

5. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly / Nathan Salmon 230

6. Descriptive Indexicals and Indexical Descriptions / Geoffrey Nunberg 261

7. The Case for Referential Descriptions / Michael Devitt 280

III. Presupposition and Truth-Value Gaps 307

8. Would You Believe It? The King of France is Back! (Presuppositions and Truth-Value Intuitions) / Kai von Fintel 315

9. Descriptions, Linguistic Topic/Comment, and Negative Existentials / Jay Atlas 342

IV. Representation of Definites and Indefinites in Semantic Theory 361

10. Referring Descriptions / R. M. Sainsbury 369

11. The Proper Form of Semantics / Joseph Almog 390

12. On a Unitary Semantical Analysis for Definite and Indefinite Descriptions / Peter Ludlow, Gabriel Segal 420

V. Anaphoric Pronouns and Descriptions, Indefinities, and Dynamic Semantics/Syntax 437

13. Indefinites and Anaphoric Dependence: A Case for Dynamic Semantics or Pragmatics? / Richard Breheny 455

14. Grounding Dynamic Semantics / Paul Dekker 484

15. Pronouns as Definites / Craig Roberts 503

16. Dynamic Definite Descriptions, Implicit Arguments, and Familiarity / Alice G. B. ter Meulen 544

17. Indefinites and Scope Choice / Ruth Kempson, Wilfried Meyer-Viol 558

VI. Names and Descriptions 585

18. Descriptive Descriptive Names / Robin Jeshion 591

19. Descriptively Introduced Names / Marga Reimer 613.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [630]-650) and index.

ISBN:

0199270511 :

019927052X

OCLC:

56436613