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Single Idea 21615
[filed under theme 19. Language / B. Reference / 1. Reference theories
]
Full Idea
The predicate 'is a prime number greater than all other prime numbers' is necessarily not true of anything, but it is not semantically defective, for it occurs in sentences that constitute a sound proof that there is no such number.
Clarification
It is proven that there is no greatest prime number
Gist of Idea
References to the 'greatest prime number' have no reference, but are meaningful
Source
Timothy Williamson (Vagueness [1994], 6.2)
Book Ref
Williamson,Timothy: 'Vagueness' [Routledge 1996], p.168
A Reaction
One might reply that the description can be legitimately mentioned, but not legitimately used.
The
29 ideas
with the same theme
[way language-terms connect with things in reality]:
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1757
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The Electra: she knows this man, but not that he is her brother
[Eucleides, by Diog. Laertius]
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21399
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Referring to a person, and speaking about him, are very different
[Seneca]
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23646
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Reference is by name, or a term-plus-circumstance, or ostensively, or by description
[Reid]
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7634
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Icons resemble their subject, an index is a natural sign, and symbols are conventional
[Peirce, by Maund]
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4981
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The reference of a word should be understood as part of the reference of the sentence
[Frege]
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4567
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Russell argued with great plausibility that we rarely, if ever, refer with our words
[Russell, by Cooper,DE]
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4145
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How do words refer to sensations?
[Wittgenstein]
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8470
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Reference is inscrutable, because we cannot choose between theories of numbers
[Quine, by Orenstein]
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4712
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Quine says there is no matter of fact about reference - it is 'inscrutable'
[Quine, by O'Grady]
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18898
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In standard logic, names are the only way to refer
[Sommers]
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6271
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How reference is specified is not what reference is
[Putnam]
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2562
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A theory of reference seems needed to pick out objects without ghostly inner states
[Rorty]
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6388
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Is reference the key place where language and the world meet?
[Davidson]
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6390
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With a holistic approach, we can give up reference in empirical theories of language
[Davidson]
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4566
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Any thesis about reference is also a thesis about what exists to be referred to
[Cooper,DE]
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4571
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Reference need not be a hit-or-miss affair
[Cooper,DE]
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12642
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Co-referring terms differ if they have different causal powers
[Fodor]
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12663
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We refer to individuals and to properties, and we use singular terms and predicates
[Fodor]
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10446
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Fictional reference is different inside and outside the fiction
[Bach]
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10447
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We can refer to fictional entities if they are abstract objects
[Bach]
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10443
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You 'allude to', not 'refer to', an individual if you keep their identity vague
[Bach]
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13885
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If apparent reference can mislead, then so can apparent lack of reference
[Wright,C]
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4995
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Behaviourists doubt whether reference is a single type of relation
[Kirk,R]
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9336
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A concept's reference is what makes true the beliefs of its possession conditions
[Peacocke, by Horwich]
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18886
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Frege's 'sense' solves four tricky puzzles
[Salmon,N]
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22244
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'Partial reference' is when the subject thinks two objects are one object
[Field,H, by Recanati]
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21615
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References to the 'greatest prime number' have no reference, but are meaningful
[Williamson]
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16356
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There may be two types of reference in language and thought: descriptive and direct
[Recanati]
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12791
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It is said that proper reference is our intellectual link with the world
[Laycock]
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