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Single Idea 16356

[filed under theme 19. Language / B. Reference / 1. Reference theories ]

Full Idea

A widely held view, originating with Russell, says there are two types of reference (both in language and thought): descriptive reference, and direct reference.

Gist of Idea

There may be two types of reference in language and thought: descriptive and direct

Source

François Recanati (Mental Files [2012], 3.2)

Book Ref

Recanati,François: 'Mental Files' [OUP 2012], p.29

A Reaction

I would rather say is there is just one sort of reference, and as many ways of achieving it as you care to come up with. With that view, most of the problems vanish, as far as I can see. People refer. Sentences are nothing but trouble.

The 36 ideas from 'Mental Files'

18409 Indexicals apply to singular thought, and mental files have essentially indexical features [Recanati]
16348 Descriptivism says we mentally relate to objects through their properties [Recanati]
16371 Files can be confused, if two files correctly have a single name, or one file has two names [Recanati]
16372 Sense determines reference says same sense/same reference; new reference means new sense [Recanati]
16373 Encylopedic files have further epistemic links, beyond the basic one [Recanati]
16374 There is a continuum from acquaintance to description in knowledge, depending on the link [Recanati]
16375 Singular thoughts need a mental file, and an acquaintance relation from file to object [Recanati]
16377 Expected acquaintance can create a thought-vehicle file, but without singular content [Recanati]
16378 An 'indexed' file marks a file which simulates the mental file of some other person [Recanati]
16381 The content of thought is what is required to understand it (which involves hearers) [Recanati]
16380 Russellian propositions are better than Fregean thoughts, by being constant through communication [Recanati]
16384 Definite descriptions reveal either a predicate (attributive use) or the file it belongs in (referential) [Recanati]
16382 Fregean modes of presentation can be understood as mental files [Recanati]
16386 Direct reference is strong Millian (just a tag) or weak Kaplanian (allowing descriptions as well) [Recanati]
16387 Reference by mental files is Millian, in emphasising acquaintance, rather than satisfaction [Recanati]
16388 We need sense as well as reference, but in a non-descriptive form, and mental files do that [Recanati]
16389 If two people think 'I am tired', they think the same thing, and they think different things [Recanati]
16393 In super-direct reference, the referent serves as its own vehicle of reference [Recanati]
16351 In 2-D semantics, reference is determined, then singularity by the truth of a predication [Recanati]
16350 Two-D semantics is said to help descriptivism of reference deal with singular objects [Recanati]
16352 A rigid definite description can be attributive, not referential: 'the actual F, whoever he is….' [Recanati]
16353 Singularity cannot be described, and it needs actual world relations [Recanati]
16354 Indexicality is closely related to singularity, exploiting our direct relations with things [Recanati]
16355 Problems with descriptivism are reference by perception, by communications and by indexicals [Recanati]
16356 There may be two types of reference in language and thought: descriptive and direct [Recanati]
16357 Mental files are the counterparts of singular terms [Recanati]
16358 The reference of a file is fixed by what it relates to, not the information it contains [Recanati]
16359 Sense is a mental file (not its contents); similar files for Cicero and Tully are two senses [Recanati]
16361 A mental file treats all of its contents as concerning one object [Recanati]
16360 Identity statements are informative if they link separate mental files [Recanati]
16364 Indexical don't refer; only their tokens do [Recanati]
16363 Indexicals (like mental files) determine their reference relationally, not by satisfaction [Recanati]
16365 Mental files are individual concepts (thought constituents) [Recanati]
16367 There are transient 'demonstrative' files, habitual 'recognitional' files, cumulative 'encyclopedic' files [Recanati]
16368 Files are hierarchical: proto-files, then first-order, then higher-order encyclopedic [Recanati]
16370 A file has a 'nucleus' through its relation to the object, and a 'periphery' of links to other files [Recanati]