Single Idea 15599

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

Full Idea

There may be a semantic relationship between 'Cicero' and 'Cicero' that does not hold between 'Cicero' and 'Tully', despite the lack of an intrinsic semantic difference between the names themselves.

Clarification

'Cicero' and 'Tully' are names of the same person

Gist of Idea

Cicero/Cicero and Cicero/Tully may differ in relationship, despite being semantically the same

Source

Kit Fine (Semantic Relationism [2007], 2.E)

Book Reference

Fine,Kit: 'Semantic Relationism' [OUP 2007], p.51


A Reaction

This is the key idea of Fine's book, and a most original and promising approach to a rather intractable problem in reference. He goes on to distinguish names which are 'strictly' coreferential (the first pair) from those that are 'accidentally' so.