課程名稱：指謂理論 931
授課教師：楊金穆先生
COURSE TITLE (T1): THEORIES OF REFERENCE
The series of tutorial based courses on fundamental topics in the philosophy of language and logic No. 1
Lecture and Class time: To be arranged
Tutorial time: To be arranged individually and weekly
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES OF TUTORIAL BASED COURSES ON
FUNDAMENTAL TOPICS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE AND LOGIC
The philosophy of language , together with the philosophy of logic and more recently philosophical logic, has gradually become a dominant branch in contemporary philosophy, not only in the tradition of Anglo-American philosophy but also in the mainstream of continental philosophy. Interestingly, just as the main concern of philosophical logic is not with a study about logic , neither is it a study of logic on its own, the so-called philosophy of language is not a study about language. Rather, the terminology "philosophy of language" is used merely to serve as a unifying label to signify a field of philosophical investigation, which at the core involves a variety of topics concerning a number of related concepts which have been the centre of traditional philosophical disputes, such as reference, truths, existence, the ontology of abstract entities, meaning, and analyticity, necessity,..., etc. Yet, no sharp boundary could be drawn amongst the scopes of these topics, nor is there any clear-cut outline of this field as a whole. As a matter of fact, these topics, under a unifying label, are closely interdependent and interrelated in that brief discussions on issues concerning any one of these topics require understanding, to a certain level, of some others. Moreover, with respect to each topic, there is always a great number of different views; and none has ever enjoyed a dominant role. As a consequence, it has been a really tough job for students to grasp what these concepts are supposed to mean and what the genuine problems surrounding these topics are.
An introductory course, wherein related topics are briefly mentioned, discussed, and dealt with, would be helpful, such as Introduction to the Philosophy of Language or Introduction to Philosophical Logic . Usually, there are introductory courses of this kind available for second/third year undergraduates. However, it strikes me that the depth and scope of an introductory course of this kind, whatever it is, seems not enough for the student who may wish to carry out further research in this field. Some more should be done, I take it. This series of tutorial based courses is designed to fulfill in such a requirement for the seniors and postgraduates at the beginning stage.
Among a variety of fundamental topics in the philosophy of language and logic, I am particularly concerned with four central concepts, namely, reference, existence, truth and meaning. Therefore, the series consists of the following four courses:
(1) Theories of Reference ;

(2) The Concept of Existence ;
(3) Theories of Truth ;
(4) Theories of Meanings .
I should claim that my selection is by no means authoritative whatsoever; other options might prove to be more significant. But I believe that grasp of advanced level with regard to the four concepts and related issues will provide a solid base for the student who would like to do some further research in this field. Moreover, I take as a starting point the study of various theories of reference. The main reason is that the concept of reference has been taken as the centre of semantics - a linkage between the language we use and the world we are in.
It is strongly recommended that the student had better take the four courses one by one in the order I have just specified. However, in practice, I shall try to make each course self-contained so that the student can take any one at any time without presupposing too much knowledge about previous ones. All courses in the series are essentially tutorial-based. Each course will be roughly divided into three or four units. For each unit, either a classical essays or a chapter of some book will be assigned and a problem sheet, including a set of problems concerning the issues in the assigned readings, will be distributed weekly. The student is expected to hand in his answers the day before the tutorial time which will be arranged weekly and individually. Usually, students will have about a 20-30 min. two-on one or one-on one tutorial weekly before one-and-half hours class to discuss.
By the end of each unit, the student is asked to write a short essay.
Unit 1 The distinction between sense and reference of names
Texts
Frege, G. (1892), `On Sense and Reference', first published in Zeitschrift f_r Philosophie
Kritik , 100 (1892), 25-50; English translation by Max Black firstly appeared in
Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege , P. Geach and M.
Black (eds.), Oxford: Blackwell, 1952, 56-78; reprinted in Meaning and Reference , A.
W. Moore (ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, 23-42.
-----, `Letter to Jourdain', reprinted in Moore (1993), 43-45.
Locke, J., An Essay Concerning Human Understanding , Book III. Chapter I-III, (firstly published in 1690), edited with an Introduction by Peter H. Nidditch, Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1975. (For Locke's Ideational theory of the meaning of names)
Mill, John Stuart, ` Of Names ', Book I. Chapter II of A System of Logic , firstly published in
1843, new impressions, London: Longmans, 1961.
Searle, J. (1958), `Proper Names', Mind (1958), 166-73; reprinted in Philosophical logic , P. F.
Strawson (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967, 89-96.
Unit 2 Theory of descriptions
Texts
Russell, B. (1905), `On Denoting', Mind (1905), reprinted in Logic and Knowledge , R. C.
Marsh (ed.), London: George Allen & Unwin, 1956, 39-56.
----- (1919), `Descriptions', an extract from Chapter XVI of Introduction to Mathematical
Philosophy , London: George Allen & Unwin, 1919; reprinted in Moore (1993),
46-55.

Strawson, P. F. (1950), `On Referring', Mind (1950), reprinted in Moore (1993), 56-79.
Russell, B. (1905), `Mr. Strawson on Referring', an extract from Russell's My Philosophical
Development , London: George Allen & Unwin, 1959, 238-245; reprinted in
Contemporary Readings in Logical Theory , I. M. Copi and J. A. Gould (eds.),
Macmillian, 1967, 127-132.
Donnellan, K.S. (1966), `Reference and Definite Descriptions', reprinted in Naming,
Necessity and Natural Kinds , S. P. Schwartz (ed.), Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1977, 42-65.
Unit 3 The new theory of reference
Texts
Kripke, S. (1972), Naming and Necessity (Lecture II, 71-105), originally appeared in Semantics of natural Language , D. Davidson and G. Harman (eds.), D. Reidel, 1972, 253-355; reissued in a monograph with the same title published by Blackwell, Oxford, 1981.
Evans, G. (1973), `The Causal Theory of Names', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society ,
Supp . vol. 47 (1973), 187-208; reprinted in Moore (1993), 208-227.
Donnellan, K. S. (1974), 'Speaking of Nothing', Philosophical Review , 1974, 3-32; reprinted in Naming, Necessity and Natural Kinds , S. P. Schwartz (ed.), Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1977, pp. 216-244.
Unit 4 Demonstratives
Texts
Kaplan D. (1978), "Dthat", appeared originally in P. Cole (ed.), Syntax and Semantics , ix,
New York: Academic Press, 1978, 221-43; reprinted in P. Yourgrau (ed.),
Demonstratives , Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 11-33.
J. Perry (1977), 'Frege on Demonstratives', Philosophical Review , 1977, 474 -97; reprinted in
Yourgrau (1990), pp. 50-70.
G. Evans, 'Understanding Demonstratives', in his Collected Papers , Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1985, pp. 291-321; reprinted in Yourgrau (1990), pp. 71-96.