display all the ideas for this combination of texts
1 idea
6439 | Names are meaningless unless there is an object which they designate [Russell] |
Full Idea: Unlike descriptions, names are meaningless unless there is an object which they designate. | |
From: Bertrand Russell (My Philosophical Development [1959], Ch.14) | |
A reaction: This interests Russell because of its ontological implications. If we reduce language to names, we can have a pure ontology of 'objects'. We need a system for saying whether a description names something - which is his theory of definite descriptions. |