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Single Idea 15166
[filed under theme 19. Language / B. Reference / 3. Direct Reference / b. Causal reference
]
Full Idea
The causal theory of reference appears to give us a way to get at an object while leaving it undetermined what its essence or necessary features might be.
Gist of Idea
Causal reference seems to get directly at the object, thus leaving its nature open
Source
Alan Sidelle (Necessity, Essence and Individuation [1989], Ch.1)
Book Ref
Sidelle,Alan: 'Necessity, Essence and Individuation' [Cornell 1989], p.11
A Reaction
This pinpoints why the direct/causal theory of reference seems to open the doors to scientific essentialism. Sidelle, of course, opposes the whole programme.
The
22 ideas
with the same theme
[reference fixed by a causal link to something]:
4140
|
The standard metre in Paris is neither one metre long nor not one metre long
[Wittgenstein]
|
17506
|
I now think reference by the tests of experts is a special case of being causally connected
[Putnam]
|
9181
|
The causal theory of reference can't distinguish just hearing a name from knowing its use
[Dummett]
|
10516
|
A realistic view of reference is possible for concrete objects, but not for abstract objects
[Dummett, by Hale]
|
5822
|
The important cause is not between dubbing and current use, but between the item and the speaker's information
[Evans on Kripke]
|
17033
|
We may refer through a causal chain, but still change what is referred to
[Kripke]
|
5823
|
The intended referent of a name needs to be the cause of the speaker's information about it
[Evans]
|
5825
|
Speakers intend to refer to items that are the source of their information
[Evans]
|
14080
|
Are causal descriptions part of the causal theory of reference, or are they just metasemantic?
[Kaplan, by Schaffer,J]
|
16432
|
One view says the causal story is built into the description that is the name's content
[Stalnaker]
|
16404
|
In the use of a name, many individuals are causally involved, but they aren't all the referent
[Stalnaker]
|
14071
|
Naming a thing in the actual world also invokes some persistence criteria
[Gibbard]
|
14215
|
Causal theories of reference make errors in reference easy
[Lewis]
|
10432
|
A new usage of a name could arise from a mistaken baptism of nothing
[Sainsbury]
|
3209
|
Causal theories of reference (by 'dubbing') don't eliminate meanings in the heads of dubbers
[Rey]
|
3210
|
If meaning and reference are based on causation, then virtually everything has meaning
[Rey]
|
7615
|
Field says reference is a causal physical relation between mental states and objects
[Field,H, by Putnam]
|
9547
|
Mathematical entities are causally inert, so the causal theory of reference won't work for them
[Chihara]
|
15166
|
Causal reference seems to get directly at the object, thus leaving its nature open
[Sidelle]
|
18612
|
Americans are more inclined to refer causally than the Chinese are
[Machery]
|
14474
|
Pure causal theories of reference have the 'qua problem', of what sort of things is being referred to
[Thomasson]
|
14475
|
How can causal theories of reference handle nonexistence claims?
[Thomasson]
|