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Single Idea 2562

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

Full Idea

The need to pick out objects without the help of definitions, essences, and meanings of terms produced, philosophers thought, a need for a "theory of reference".

Gist of Idea

A theory of reference seems needed to pick out objects without ghostly inner states

Source

Richard Rorty (Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature [1980], 6.3)

Book Ref

Rorty,Richard: 'Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature' [Blackwell 1980], p.274

A Reaction

Frege's was very perceptive in noting that meaning and reference are not the same. Whether we need a 'theory' of reference is unclear. It is worth describing how it occurs.

The 15 ideas from 'Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature'

4726 Rorty seems to view truth as simply being able to hold one's view against all comers [Rorty, by O'Grady]
2549 For James truth is "what it is better for us to believe" rather than a correct picture of reality [Rorty]
2548 If knowledge is merely justified belief, justification is social [Rorty]
2550 Pain lacks intentionality; beliefs lack qualia [Rorty]
2554 Is intentionality a special sort of function? [Rorty]
2553 The mind is a property, or it is baffling [Rorty]
2556 Rational certainty may be victory in argument rather than knowledge of facts [Rorty]
2557 Analytical philosophy seems to have little interest in how to tell a good analysis from a bad one [Rorty]
2558 Since Hegel we have tended to see a human as merely animal if it is outside a society [Rorty]
2559 Davidson's theory of meaning focuses not on terms, but on relations between sentences [Rorty]
2560 Can meanings remain the same when beliefs change? [Rorty]
2562 A theory of reference seems needed to pick out objects without ghostly inner states [Rorty]
2565 Nature has no preferred way of being represented [Rorty]
2566 You can't debate about whether to have higher standards for the application of words [Rorty]
6599 Knowing has no definable essence, but is a social right, found in the context of conversations [Rorty]