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Full Idea
Descriptivism has trouble catching the singularity of objects, construing them as only directly about properties. …To get the truth-conditions right, it is claimed, the descriptivist only as to go two-dimensional.
Gist of Idea
Two-D semantics is said to help descriptivism of reference deal with singular objects
Source
François Recanati (Mental Files [2012], 2.1)
Book Ref
Recanati,François: 'Mental Files' [OUP 2012], p.17
A Reaction
I suspect that the descriptivist only has a problem here because context is being ignored. 'That man on the beach' can quickly be made uniquely singular after a brief chat.
Related Ideas
Idea 16348 Descriptivism says we mentally relate to objects through their properties [Recanati]
Idea 16351 In 2-D semantics, reference is determined, then singularity by the truth of a predication [Recanati]