Philosophy of Language Lecture Notes (September 12)
Strawson:
Russell- referentialist, meaning in terms of fully referential
Ex) “The king of France”- is bald/ is a monarch/ is male/ is playing lacrosse
 There is no referent since there is no present king of France
 Russell establishes 3 things:
o 1) There is a king of France
o 2) There is no more than one king of France (uniqueness)
o 3) The king of France is…
 Thus, the claim “The King of France is bald” is false because
premise 1 is false- there is NO king of France
 Strawson suggests this is inaccurate because: it is pragmatic to call out falsity
when it does not pertain to the significance of the claim
o Martini Example: you would question the reference by saying “Who
are you referring to?” not “Your claim is false because he doesn’t have
a martini!”
o Distinctions between challenging a claim that some conditions have
misfired from challenging a claim on the basis of the claim being false
 I.E. it is not important to deny the reference if you know what
is being referred to if the main point is not false
Russell addresses Frege’s problems with co-referring names and empty names
 Proper names are associated with distinct definite descriptions, disguised
definite descriptions (Descriptivist Theory of Proper Names)
o Can only logically properly name objects of your own experience since
you cannot be wrong that they exist
o “Charles Dodgson”- possibility that he doesn’t exist if you aren’t
acquainted with him
 Strawson: we have names given to objects that do not exist (Santa clause,
Zeus, etc…) and we have many uses to which we place expressions
o Ex) “The king of France” can have a similar meaning but not the same
reference
 It is not the meaning of a term in reference that is important
but the USE of it that is important
o “The King of France doesn’t exist”- under Russell it is still false
because there is still no king of France to begin with = contrary claim
 Russell’s proposition that existence isn’t a predicate still
doesn’t solve the problem because there are still truths that
become false under this
o Russell suggests that:
 1) Conditions behind the proper use of an expression
 2) Conditions of the meaning of the particular use of an
expression
Hard to give a precise account of the proper use of an expression.
Can’t pack the conditions of proper use into the conditions of the
meaning!
Uses where you do not assert the existence of a king of France:
o There can be a fictional usage of the reference
o Under Russell’s conditions there must be lengthy exceptions that
include the fictional idea in order to reach the conclusion that the king
of France exists
o
