Mind 114 (456):1039-1068 (2005)
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Abstract |
Russell had two theories of definite descriptions: one for singular descriptions, another for plural descriptions. We chart its development, in which ‘On Denoting’ plays a part but not the part one might expect, before explaining why it eventually fails. We go on to consider many-valued functions, since they too bring in plural terms—terms such as ‘4’ or the descriptive ‘the inhabitants of London’ which, like plain plural descriptions, stand for more than one thing. Logicians need to take plural reference seriously if only because mathematicians take many-valued functions seriously. We assess the objection (by Russell, Frege and others) that many-valued functions are illegitimate because the corresponding terms are ambiguous. We also assess the various methods proposed for getting rid of them. Finding the objection ill-founded and the methods ineffective, we introduce a logical framework that admits plural reference, and use it to answer some earlier questions and to raise some more.
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DOI | 10.1093/mind/fzi1039 |
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References found in this work BETA
Introduction to Symbolic Logic and its Applications.Rudolf Carnap - 1958 - New York: Dover Publications.
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Citations of this work BETA
On the Innocence and Determinacy of Plural Quantification.Salvatore Florio & Øystein Linnebo - 2016 - Noûs 50 (3):565–583.
A Modest Logic of Plurals.Alex Oliver & Timothy Smiley - 2006 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 35 (3):317-348.
View all 24 citations / Add more citations
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