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Full Idea
I think there is no commitment to entities through use of alleged names of them; other things being equal, we can always deny the allegation that the words in question are names.
Gist of Idea
Names have no ontological commitment, because we can deny that they name anything
Source
Willard Quine (On Carnap's Views on Ontology [1951], p.205)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'Ways of Paradox and other essays' [Harvard 1976], p.205
A Reaction
Hm. So why can't you deny that variables actually refer to existing entities? If I say 'I just saw James', it's a bit cheeky to then deny that James refers to anyone. He uses Russell's technique to paraphrase names.