Full Idea
The simple thesis that names and descriptions often refer to things, and that predicates often have an extension in the world of things, is obvious, and essential to the most elementary appreciation of both language and the thoughts we express.
Gist of Idea
Names, descriptions and predicates refer to things; without that, language and thought are baffling
Source
Donald Davidson (Replies to Critics [1998], p.323)
Book Reference
Davidson,Donald: 'Truth, Language and History' [OUP 2005], p.323
A Reaction
In 1983 Davidson had been a rare modern champion of the coherence theory of truth, but this is his clearest later renunciation of that view (and quite right too).