Proper names as counterpart‐theoretic individual concepts.
Many philosophers and linguists have been attracted to counterpart theory as a framework for natural language semantics. I raise a novel problem for counterpart theory involving simple declarative sentences with proper names. To resolve this problem, counterpart theorists must introduce the notion o...
| Published in: | Philosophy & Phenomenological Research Vol. 110; no. 3; pp. 1152 - 1182 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley-Blackwell
May2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | Many philosophers and linguists have been attracted to counterpart theory as a framework for natural language semantics. I raise a novel problem for counterpart theory involving simple declarative sentences with proper names. To resolve this problem, counterpart theorists must introduce the notion of a counterpart in the semantics of the non‐modal fragment of language. I develop my preferred solution: a novel theory of proper names as counterpart‐theoretic individual concepts. The resulting view highlights a hitherto unnoticed fact: counterpart theorists should formulate their theory, not by modifying the standard semantics for modal operators, but by modifying the standard semantics for names and variables. |
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