Definite descriptions / Paul Elbourne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Elbourne, Paul D.

Series:

Oxford studies in semantics and pragmatics ; 1.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Definiteness (Linguistics).

Frege, Gottlob, 1848-1925.

Frege, Gottlob.

Physical Description:

x, 251 pages ; 26 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

This book argues that definite descriptions ('the table', 'the King of France') refer to individuals, as Gottlob Frege claimed. This apparently simple conclusion flies in the face of philosophical orthodoxy, which incorporates Bertrand Russell's theory that definite descriptions are devices of quantification. Paul Elbourne presents the first fully-argued defence of the Fregean view. He builds an explicit fragment of English using a version of situation semantics. He uses intrinsic aspects of his system to account for the presupposition projection behaviour of definite descriptions, a range of modal properties, and the problem of incompleteness. At the same time, he draws on an unusually wide range of linguistic and philosophical literature, from early work by Frege, Peano, and Russell to the latest findings in linguistics, philosophy of language, and psycholinguistics. His penultimate chapter addresses the semantics of pronouns and offers a new and more radical version of his earlier thesis that they too are Fregean definite descriptions. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 Situation Semantics 17

2.1 On Situation Semantics 17

2.2 Introduction to the Formal System 21

2.3 The Formal System 32

2.4 Some Situation-Semantic Technicalities 36

3 The Definite Article 42

3.1 Definite Descriptions in Frege and Strawson 42

3.2 A Fregean Theory of the Definite Article 46

4 Presupposition 52

4.1 Introduction 52

4.2 Presupposition Projection 57

4.3 Possibility Modals 58

4.4 Conditionals and Disjunction 60

4.5 Negation 67

4.6 Presupposition Obviation 80

4.7 Conclusion 102

5 Referential and Attributive 104

5.1 Introduction 104

5.2 A Problem for Russell? 106

5.3 A Problem for Frege and Strawson? 112

5.4 Predicative Use 116

5.5 Conclusion 119

6 Anaphora 120

6.1 Introduction 120

6.2 A Donkey Sentence with a Relative Clause 121

6.3 A Donkey Sentence with a Quantificational Adverb 124

6.4 C-Commanded Bound Definite Descriptions 125

6.5 Conclusion 132

7 Modality 133

7.1 Introduction 133

7.2 The De Re/De Dicto Ambiguity 133

7.3 Going Back 142

7.4 After Cresswell 1990 146

7.5 After Kratzer 2010 148

7.6 Conclusion 149

8 Existence Entailments 150

8.1 Introduction 150

8.2 HKE's Objection to Russell 151

8.3 KN's Response to HKE 152

8.4 A First Response to KN's Response 152

8.5 A Second Response to KN's Response 155

8.6 The Fregean Theory 157

8.7 Other Determiners 159

8.8 Possibility Modals 167

8.9 Conclusion 169

9 Incompleteness 172

9.1 Implicit Content and Incomplete Descriptions 172

9.2 Five Theories of Incomplete Descriptions 174

9.3 An Argument from Sloppy Identity 179

9.4 Conclusion 189

10 Pronouns 191

10.1 Introduction 191

10.2 The Syntax and Semantics of Pronouns 193

10.3 Anaphora 194

10.4 Referential Pronouns 197

10.5 Descriptive Indexicals 201

10.6 Voldemort Phrases 205

10.7 Sloppy Readings 209

10.8 Anaphora to Facts and Propositions 212

10.9 Problems with Focus 223

10.10 Psycholinguistic Evidence 224

10.11 Conclusion 229

11 Conclusion 231.

ISBN:

9780199660193

0199660190

9780199660209

0199660204

OCLC:

858357984