Reading ‘On Denoting’ on its Centenary

Mind 114 (456):933-1003 (2005)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Part 1 sets out the logical/semantical background to ‘On Denoting’, including an exposition of Russell's views in Principles of Mathematics, the role and justification of Frege's notorious Axiom V, and speculation about how the search for a solution to the Contradiction might have motivated a new treatment of denoting. Part 2 consists primarily of an extended analysis of Russell's views on knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description, in which I try to show that the discomfiture between Russell's semantical and epistemological commitments begins as far back as 1903. I close with a non-Russellian critique of Russell's views on how we are able to make use of linguistic representations in thought and with the suggestion that a theory of comprehension is needed to supplement semantic theory.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Russell versus Frege.Imre Ruzsa - 2010 - Croatian Journal of Philosophy 10 (1):13-20.
On denoting : Appearance and reality.Gideon Makin - 2009 - In Nicholas Griffin & Dale Jacquette (eds.), Russell Vs. Meinong: The Legacy of. Routledge.
Polyadic Quantification via Denoting Concepts.Ori Simchen - 2010 - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 51 (3):373-381.
Making Sense of 'On Denoting'.Gideon Makin - 1995 - Synthese 102 (3):383 - 412.
"On Denoting" and the Principle of Acquaintance.Russell Wahl - 2007 - Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies 27 (1):7-23.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
377 (#47,847)

6 months
28 (#94,275)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

David Kaplan
University of California, Los Angeles

References found in this work

Word and Object.Willard Van Orman Quine - 1960 - Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
Demonstratives: An Essay on the Semantics, Logic, Metaphysics and Epistemology of Demonstratives and other Indexicals.David Kaplan - 1989 - In Joseph Almog, John Perry & Howard Wettstein (eds.), Themes From Kaplan. Oxford University Press. pp. 481-563.
The Principles of Mathematics.Bertrand Russell - 1903 - Cambridge, England: Allen & Unwin.
Word and Object.Willard Van Orman Quine - 1960 - Les Etudes Philosophiques 17 (2):278-279.
Reference and definite descriptions.Keith S. Donnellan - 1966 - Philosophical Review 75 (3):281-304.

View all 42 references / Add more references