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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Logic and Conversation' and 'Philosophy of Logic'

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5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / f. Names eliminated

9016	Names are not essential, because naming can be turned into predication [Quine]
	Full Idea: Names are convenient but redundant, because Fa is equivalent to (an x)(a=x,Fx), so a need only occur in the context a=, but this can be rendered as a simple predicate A, so that Fa gives way to (an x)(Ax.Fx).
	From: Willard Quine (Philosophy of Logic [1970], Ch.2)
	A reaction: In eliminating names from analysis, Quine takes Russell's strategy a step further. It is probably this which provoked Kripke into going right back to Mill's view of names as basic labels. The name/description boundary is blurred. Mr Gradgrind.