Full Idea
Anyone should agree that a justification for regarding a singular term as having objectual reference is provided just as soon as one has justification for regarding as true certain atomic statements in which it functions as a singular term.
Gist of Idea
Singular terms refer if they make certain atomic statements true
Source
B Hale / C Wright (The Metaontology of Abstraction [2009], §9)
Book Reference
'Metametaphysics', ed/tr. Chalmers/Manley/Wasserman [OUP 2009], p.207
A Reaction
The meat of this idea is hidden in the word 'certain'. See Idea 10314 for Hale's explanation. Without that, the proposal strikes me as absurd.
Related Idea
Idea 10314 An expression is a genuine singular term if it resists elimination by paraphrase [Hale]