PHIL 2504 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Analytic Philosophy, Mathematical Logic, Political Philosophy
20 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
We can distinguish between different kinds of expressions on the basis of their being meaningful or not meaningful. It is more difficult that it may initially appear to explain what makes certain expressions meaningful rather than others, and how meaning is determined/ascertained. Words are meaningful because they refer to or denote things in the world. In the case of a proper name, like adolf hitler, they stand for individuals in the world. In the case of generic words, like dog, chien, or hund, they stand for a group of things in the world. Review: initial objections to referential theory of meaning. Not all words stand for some (actually existing) thing. There has to be more to meaning than reference. Definite descriptions are a type of singular term, and cannot, according to both. Russell and frege, have their meanings captured by reference alone. By maintaining this theory of meaning for definite descriptions, four logical puzzles are created.
