Single Idea 9364

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / a. Names]

Full Idea

A name must represent some uniformity in experience or it names nothing.

Gist of Idea

Names represent a uniformity in experience, or they name nothing

Source

C.I. Lewis (A Pragmatic Conception of the A Priori [1923], p.368)

Book Reference

Peirce,James,Dewey etc: 'Pragmatism - The Classic Writings', ed/tr. Thayer,H.S. [Hackett 1982], p.368


A Reaction

I like this because, in the quintessentially linguistic debate about the exact logical role of names, it reminds us that names arise because of the way reality is; they are not sui generis private games for logicians.