What to Say When There Is Nothing to Talk about

Frederick Kroon,Mircea Dumitru

doi:10.22201/iifs.18704905e.2008.1002

Frederick Kroon, Mircea Dumitru

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.22201/iifs.18704905e.2008.1002

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Abstract

In Reference without Referents, Mark Sainsbury aims to provide an account of reference that honours the common-sense view that sentences containing empty names like “Vulcan” and “Santa Claus” are entirely intelligible, and that many such sentences —“Vulcan doesn’t exist”, “Many children believe that Santa Claus will give them presents at Christmas”, etc.— are literally true. Sainsbury’s account endorses the Davidsonian program in the theory of meaning, and combines this with a commitment to Negative Free Logic, which holds that all simple sentences containing empty names are false. In this critical review, we pose a number of problems for this account. In particular, we question the ability of Negative Free Logic to make appropriate sense of the truth of familiar sentences containing empty names, including negative existential claims like “Vulcan doesn’t exist”.

Highlights

The problem of empty or non-referring names —names that lack a referent, even though they feature in apparently meaningful discourse— continues to be one of the most hotly debated problems in philosophy of language
The problem of empty names is troubling for Millians of any kind, soft or hard, since Millians appear committed to the view that empty names are unable to make a semantic contribution so that sentences containing empty names fail to say anything, let alone anything true
Such names are entirely intelligible, and that many such sentences —“Vulcan doesn’t exist”, “Many children believe that Santa Claus will give them presents at Christmas”, and so on— are literally true

Summary

Introduction

The problem of empty or non-referring names —names that lack a referent, even though they feature in apparently meaningful discourse— continues to be one of the most hotly debated problems in philosophy of language. This can sound close to descriptivism, but here Sainsbury endorses an important theme from McDowell: names can very well have senses (in Sainsbury’s terms, associated reference conditions) despite these lacking descriptive content.

Results

Conclusion