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This 4 page paper discusses Bertrand Russell's idea that the sense of a proper name is equivalent to a description of the object named. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVDenote.rtf
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a proper name is equivalent to a description of the object named. Discussion Bertrand Russells theory of denoting is part of what we call the philosophy of language (Theory of
descriptions, 2006). Russell proposed his theory because he felt that the "superficial syntactic form of descriptions (phrases usually of the form "The X" and "An X") is misleading, as it
does not match their logical or semantic structure" (Theory of descriptions, 2006). Russell says that by a "denoting phrase" he means "a phrase such as any one of the following:
a man, some man, any man, every man, all men, the present King of England, the presenting [sic] King of France, the center of mass of the solar system at
the first instant of the twentieth century, the revolution of the earth round the sun, the revolution of the sun round the earth" (Russell, 1905). A denoting phrase thus "is
denoting solely in virtue of its form" (Russell, 1905). Woods explicates further: "... it is not necessary for a denoting phrase to denote anything in order for the verbal expression
of the proposition which contains it to have a meaning. Thereby, a denoting phrase is such purely in virtue of its form" (Woods). Russell says there are three cases of
a denoting phrase: it "may be denoting and yet not denote anything, e.g., the present King of France" (Russell, 1905). Here, the phrase denotes something concrete, the King of France,
but as the last true king of France died in 1848 and the French monarchy did not exist at the time Russell wrote his paper, we can see that although
we understand the meaning of the phrase, it doesnt apply to anything. The second case is when the denoting phrase denotes "one definite object: e.g., the present King of England
...