Terms and Truth: Reference Direct and Anaphoric - Softcover

Berger, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262524376 ISBN 13: 9780262524377

Publisher: MIT Press, 2005

Synopsis

In this book, Alan Berger further develops the new theory of reference - as formulated by Kripke and Putnam - applying it in novel ways to many philosophical problems concerning reference and existence. Berger argues that his notion of anaphoric background condition and anaphoric links within a linguistic community are crucial not only to a theory of reference, but to the analysis of these problems as well. The book is organized in three parts. In part I, Berger distinguishes between two styles of rigid designation. Based on this distinction, he develops a theory of reference change for rigid designator terms and shows how this distinction sheds light on identity statements. In part II, he offers an account of belief attribution containing vacuous names within the belief context, of intentional identity statements, and of true negative existential statements. In part III, he analyzes anaphoric expressions (i.e., expressions whose reference is determined in part by other clauses or sentences in a given discourse) and presents a formalization of anaphora and plural quantification.

About this title

About the Author

Alan Berger is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262524376
• ISBN 13: 9780262524377
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 258