Abstract
The anchoring focus of this chapter is a cluster of complaints that have been raised against reference-based approaches to semantics, in particular against the view defended by Scott Soames (2002). I am going to lump the complaints that I have in mind under the heading of the Threat of Collapse (or the Threat, for short). At the heart of the Threat of Collapse is the accusation that various moves referentialists make in dealing with well-known problems undercut the motivations for a reference-based semantics.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Bach, K. (2001) ‘You Don’t Say?’, Synthese, 128(1/2), 15–44.
Block, N. (1986) ‘Advertisement for a Semantics of Psychology’, in P.A. French, T.E.J. Uehling, and H.K. Wettstein (eds) Midwest Studies in Philosophy (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).
Braun, D. (2005) ‘Empty Names, Fictional Names, Mythical Names’, Nous, 39(4), 596–631.
Braun, D. (2006) ‘Illogical but Rational’, Nous, 40(2), 376–79.
Braun, D. (2008) ‘Complex Demonstratives and Their Singular Contents’, Linguistics and Philosophy, 31(1), 57–99.
Braun, D. and Sider, T. (2006) ‘Kripke’s Revenge’, Philosophical Studies, 128, 669–82.
Caplan, B. (2007) ‘Millian Descriptivism’, Philosophical Studies, 133(2), 181–98.
Carston, R. (2002) ‘Linguistic Meaning, Communicated Meaning and Cognitive Pragmatics’, Mind & Language, 17(1-2), 127–48.
Crimmins, M. (1992) Talk about Beliefs (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).
Davidson, M. (2007) On Sense and Direct Reference: Readings in the Philosophy of Language (Boston: McGraw-Hill).
Donnellan, K. (1970) ‘Proper Names and Identifying Descriptions’, Synthese, 21, 335–58.
Dretske, F.I. (1981) Knowledge and the Flow of Information (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).
Edwards, K. (ms) ‘Keeping Reference in Mind’, Paper delivered at the Pacific meeting of the American Philosophical Association, April 2009.
Fodor, J.A. (1975) The Language of Thought (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).
Fodor, J.A. (1981) Representations: Philosophical Essays on the Foundations of Cognitive Science, 1st MIT Press edn (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).
Fodor, J.A. (1992) A Theory of Content and Other Essays (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).
Fodor, J.A. (1998) Concepts: Where Cognitive Science Went Wrong (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Fodor, J.A. (2004) ‘Having Concepts: A Brief Refutation of the Twentieth Century’, Mind & Language, 19(1), 29–47.
Fodor, J.A. (2008) LOT 2: The Language of Thought Revisited (New York: Oxford University Press).
Fodor, J.A. and Lepore, E. (2002) The Compositionality Papers (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Frege, G. (1952) ‘On Sense and Reference’, Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege (Oxford: Basic Blackwell).
Harman, G. (1982) ‘Conceptual Role Semantics’, Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 23(2), 242–56.
Kaplan, D. (1989) ‘Demonstratives’, in J. Almog, J. Perry, and H. Wettstein (eds) Themes from Kaplan (New York: Oxford University Press).
Kripke, S. (1977) ‘Speaker’s Reference and Semantic Reference’, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 2, 255–77.
Kripke, S. (1979) ‘A Puzzle about Belief’, in A. Margalit (ed.) Meaning and Use (Dordrecht: D. Reidel).
Kripke, S. (1980) Naming and Necessity (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).
Loar, B. (1981) Mind and Meaning (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press).
Loar, B. (1987) ‘Names in Thought’, Philosophical Studies, 51, 169–85.
McKay, T. (1981) ‘On Proper Names in Belief Ascriptions’, Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 39(3), 287–303.
McKinsey, M. (2005) ‘Critical Notice of Scott Soames, Beyond Rigidity’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 35(1), 149–68.
Mill, J.S. (1858) A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, 5th edn (New York: Harper & Brothers).
Millikan, R.G. (1993) White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).
Neale, S. (2004a) ‘Pragmatism and Binding’, in Z. Szabo (ed.) Semantics and Pragmatics (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Neale, S. (2004b) ‘This, That, and the Other’, in A. Bezuidenhout (ed.) Descriptions and Beyond (New York: Oxford University Press).
Neale, S. (ms) ‘Linguistic Pragmatism’, Unpublished manuscript.
Peacocke, C. (1992) A Study of Concepts (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).
Recanati, F. (2001) ‘What Is Said’, Synthese, 128(1-2), 75–91.
Russell, B. (1905) ‘On Denoting’, Mind, 14(56), 479–93.
Salmon, N. (1986) Frege’s Puzzle (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).
Salmon, N. (1989a) ‘How to Become a Millian Heir’, Nous (23), 211–20.
Salmon, N. (1989b) ‘Illogical Belief’, Philosophical Perspectives (Atascadero: Ridgeview).
Salmon, N. (2005) Reference and Essence, 2nd edn (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books).
Soames, S. (1997) ‘Direct Reference, Propositional Attitudes, and Semantic Content’, in P. Ludlow (ed.) Readings in the Philosophy of Language (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).
Soames, S. (2002) Beyond Rigidity: The Unfinished Semantic Agenda of Naming and Necessity (New York: Oxford University Press).
Soames, S. (2005) ‘“Beyond Rigidity”: Reply to McKinsey’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 35(1), 169–78.
Soames, S. (ms) ‘What Are Natural Kinds?’, Forthcoming in Philosophical Topics.
Thau, M. (2002) Consciousness and Cognition (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2010 Kevan Edwards
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Edwards, K. (2010). Referring When Push-Comes-to-Shove. In: Sawyer, S. (eds) New Waves in Philosophy of Language. New Waves in Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230248588_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230248588_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-230-22437-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-24858-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Religion & Philosophy CollectionPhilosophy and Religion (R0)