Single Idea 4570

[catalogued under 19. Language / B. Reference / 5. Speaker's Reference]

Full Idea

Russell assumes that it is expressions which refer if anything does, but strictly speaking it is WE who refer with the use of expressions.

Gist of Idea

Russell assumes that expressions refer, but actually speakers refer by using expressions

Source

comment on Bertrand Russell (On Denoting [1905]) by David E. Cooper - Philosophy and the Nature of Language §4.1

Book Reference

Cooper,David E.: 'Philosophy and the Nature of Language' [Longman 1979], p.78


A Reaction

This sounds right. Russell is part of the overemphasis on language which plagued philosophy after Frege. Words are tools, like searchlights or pointing fingers.