Single Idea 19485

[catalogued under 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / a. Ontological commitment]

Full Idea

I think there is no commitment to entities through use of alleged names of them; other things being equal, we can always deny the allegation that the words in question are names.

Gist of Idea

Names have no ontological commitment, because we can deny that they name anything

Source

Willard Quine (On Carnap's Views on Ontology [1951], p.205)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'Ways of Paradox and other essays' [Harvard 1976], p.205


A Reaction

Hm. So why can't you deny that variables actually refer to existing entities? If I say 'I just saw James', it's a bit cheeky to then deny that James refers to anyone. He uses Russell's technique to paraphrase names.