Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names?
This essay is devoted to an analysis of the semantic significance of a fashionable view of proper names, the Predicate Theory of names (PT), typically developed in the direction of the Metalinguistic Theory of names (MT). According to MT, ‘syntactic evidence supports the conclusion that a name such...
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33736/ |
| _version_ | 1848794692396777472 |
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| author | Predelli, Stefano |
| author_facet | Predelli, Stefano |
| author_sort | Predelli, Stefano |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This essay is devoted to an analysis of the semantic significance of a fashionable view of proper names, the Predicate Theory of names (PT), typically developed in the direction of the Metalinguistic Theory of names (MT). According to MT, ‘syntactic evidence supports the conclusion that a name such as ‘Kennedy’ is analyzable in terms of the predicate (general term) ‘individual named ‘Kennedy’’. This analysis is in turn alleged to support a descriptivist treatment of proper names in designative position, presumably in contrast with theories of names as ‘directly referring rigid designators’. The main aim of this essay is that of questioning the significance of PT and MT as theories of designation: even granting for the argument’s sake that names are analyzable as (metalinguistic) predicates, their designative occurrences may be interpreted in consonance with the dictates of Direct Reference—indeed, in consonance with the radically anti-descriptivist version of Direct Reference I call Millianism. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:20:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-33736 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:20:14Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Springer |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-337362020-05-04T17:11:56Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33736/ Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? Predelli, Stefano This essay is devoted to an analysis of the semantic significance of a fashionable view of proper names, the Predicate Theory of names (PT), typically developed in the direction of the Metalinguistic Theory of names (MT). According to MT, ‘syntactic evidence supports the conclusion that a name such as ‘Kennedy’ is analyzable in terms of the predicate (general term) ‘individual named ‘Kennedy’’. This analysis is in turn alleged to support a descriptivist treatment of proper names in designative position, presumably in contrast with theories of names as ‘directly referring rigid designators’. The main aim of this essay is that of questioning the significance of PT and MT as theories of designation: even granting for the argument’s sake that names are analyzable as (metalinguistic) predicates, their designative occurrences may be interpreted in consonance with the dictates of Direct Reference—indeed, in consonance with the radically anti-descriptivist version of Direct Reference I call Millianism. Springer 2015-08-01 Article PeerReviewed Predelli, Stefano (2015) Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? Linguistics and Philosophy, 38 (4). pp. 363-376. ISSN 0165-0157 Names ; Descriptivism ; Millianism ; Direct Reference http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10988-015-9177-9 doi:10.1007/s10988-015-9177-9 doi:10.1007/s10988-015-9177-9 |
| spellingShingle | Names ; Descriptivism ; Millianism ; Direct Reference Predelli, Stefano Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? |
| title | Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? |
| title_full | Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? |
| title_fullStr | Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? |
| title_short | Who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? |
| title_sort | who’s afraid of the predicate theory of names? |
| topic | Names ; Descriptivism ; Millianism ; Direct Reference |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33736/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33736/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33736/ |