more from John Stuart Mill

Single Idea 7762

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / c. Names as referential]

Full Idea

Mill seemed to defend the view that proper names are merely labels for individual persons or objects, and contribute no more than those individuals themselves to the meanings of sentences in which they occur.

Gist of Idea

Proper names are just labels for persons or objects, and the meaning is the object

Source

report of John Stuart Mill (System of Logic [1843]) by William Lycan - Philosophy of Language

Book Reference

Lycan,William G.: 'Philosophy of Language' [Routledge 2000], p.37


A Reaction

Identity statements can become trivial on this view ('Twain is Clemens'). Modern views have become more sympathetic to Mill, since externalism places meanings outside the head of the speaker.