The Theory of Descriptions: Russell and the Philosophy of Language (History of Analytic Philosophy)

209 Pages·2011·1.08 MB·English

by  Graham Stevens

History of Analytic Philosophy
Series Editor: Michael Beaney
Titles include:
Stewart Candlish
THE RUSSELL/BRADLEY DISPUTE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR TWENTIETH-
CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
Annalisa Coliva
MOORE AND WITTGENSTEIN
Scepticism, Certainty and Common Sense
Sandra Lapointe
BOLZANO’S THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY
An Introduction
Omar W. Nasim
BERTRAND RUSSELL AND THE EDWARDIAN PHILOSOPHERS
Constructing the World
Graham Stevens
THE THEORY OF DESCRIPTIONS
Russell and the Philosophy of Language
Nuno Venturinha (editor)
WITTGENSTEIN AFTER HIS NACHLASS
Pierre Wagner (editor)
CARNAP’S LOGICAL SYNTAX OF LANGUAGE
Forthcoming:
Andrew Arana and Carlos Alvarez (editors)
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MATHEMATICS
Rosalind Carey
RUSSELL ON MEANING
The Emergence of Scientific Philosophy from the 1920s to the 1940s
Giusseppina D’Oro
REASONS AND CAUSES
Causalism and Non-Causalism in the Philosophy of Action
George Duke
DUMMETT ON ABSTRACT OBJECTS
Sébastien Gandon
RUSSELL’S UNKNOWN LOGICISM
A Study in the History and Philosophy of Mathematics
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Anssi Korhonen
LOGIC AS UNIVERSAL SCIENCE
Russell’s Early Logicism and Its Philosophical Context
Gregory Landini
FREGE’S NOTATIONS
What They Are and What They Mean
Douglas Patterson
ALFRED TARSKI
Philosophy of Language and Logic
Consuelo Preti
THE METAPHYSICAL BASIS OF ETHICS
The Early Philosophical Development of G.E. Moore
Sandra Lapointe (translator)
Franz Prihonsky
THE NEW ANTI-KANT
Erich Reck (editor)
THE HISTORIC TURN IN ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
Maria van der Schaar
G.F. STOUT: ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
Pierre Wagner (editor)
CARNAP’S IDEAL OF EXPLICATION AND NATURALISM
History of Analytic Philosophy
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The Theory of Descriptions
Russell and the Philosophy of Language
Graham Stevens
University of Manchester, UK
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© Graham Stevens 2011
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First published 2011 by
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For Amy and George
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 The Theory 9
1.1 Denoting phrases 9
1.2 Singular terms 13
1.3 The theory of descriptions 21
1.4 Scope 23
1.5 The reception of the theory of descriptions 37
2 History I: The 1903 Theory of Denoting 45
2.1 Introduction 45
2.2 The standard reading 47
2.3 Russell’s alleged ‘Meinongianism’ 49
2.4 The 1903 theory of denoting 52
2.5 Rejecting the Meinongian interpretation (I):
empty denoting phrases 55
2.6 Rejecting the Meinongian interpretation (II):
empty proper names 57
2.7 Rejecting the Meinongian interpretation (III):
denying existence 62
2.8 Conclusion 71
3 History II: ‘On Denoting’ and the Genesis of the
Theory of Descriptions 73
3.1 The theory of descriptions and the theory of types 73
3.2 The Gray’s Elegy Argument 77
vii
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viii Contents
4 Descriptions and Logical Form 93
4.1 Introduction 93
4.2 Descriptions as quantifiers and the LF hypothesis 96
4.3 Incomplete symbols – the objections 101
4.4 Incomplete symbols – responding to the objections 104
4.5 Incomplete symbols and object independence 111
4.6 Conclusion 115
5 Extending the Theory I: Complex Demonstratives 117
5.1 Complex demonstratives and the orthodox view 117
5.2 Syntactic data against the orthodox view 120
5.3 Semantic data against the orthodox view 122
5.4 Quantificational analyses 125
5.5 The semantics and pragmatics of ‘that’ and ‘the’ 136
6 Extending the Theory II: Indexicality 140
6.1 Russell on egocentric particulars 141
6.2 Contemporary work: Kaplan’s indexical semantics 143
6.3 Problems for the contemporary view 149
6.4 A Russellian response: the inner and the outer
spaces of egocentric semantics 153
6.5 The egocentric character of singular thought 159
7 Russell and the Philosophy of Language 168
Notes 179
Bibliography 190
Index 197
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Acknowledgements
The idea of writing a book on the theory of descriptions has been float-
ing around in my head for a long time. It was only when Michael Beaney
invited me to contribute something to this series on the History of
Analytic Philosophy, however, that the idea developed into a serious
project. I am very grateful to him for the invitation to write it, and for
the faith he has shown in me by allowing the project to freely evolve
from what was originally a very vague proposal, of the standard com-
monly encountered on the back of an envelope, into (I hope) a coherent
monograph.
Much of the material contained in this book was presented in draft
versions to conferences and seminars where it benefited greatly from
the critical scrutiny of those in attendance. An early version of Chapter
4 was presented at the PM@100 conference to commemorate the cente-
nary of the publication of Principia Mathematica at the Bertrand Russell
Research Centre, McMaster University. I would like to thank the audi-
ence for much helpful feedback. Special thanks are due to Bernard
Linsky and James Levine. An early version of Chapter 5 was presented
at a seminar in Trinity College, Dublin. I would like to thank the audi-
ence there for their helpful comments. A paper based on Chapters 4 and
7 was presented to the Linguistics department here at Manchester. The
comments I received from the audience provided me with an invaluable
view of these issues from the point of view of their discipline. As ever, I
am indebted to my colleagues in the Philosophy department at
Manchester. I have given two research seminars based on chapters from
this book in the department, and benefited enormously from the
insightful, critical, and supportive comments from staff and graduate
students present on each occasion. Special thanks are due to Michael
Scott with whom I have shared countless conversations on issues in the
philosophy of language that bear directly or indirectly on this work. I
would also like to thank the undergraduate students who have taken
my third year course on Russell, or related courses, over the last few
years, for many enjoyable discussions of issues covered in the book. I
am grateful to Taylor and Francis Ltd (www.tandf.co.uk/journals) for
permission to reproduce my paper ‘Russell’s Ontological Development
Reconsidered’, first published in The British Journal for the History of
ix
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