How to Cite
Le Gall, S. (2013). Natural kind terms and possible beings: issues in referential accessibility. Discusiones Filosóficas, 14(23), 135–153. Retrieved from https://revistasojs.ucaldas.edu.co/index.php/discusionesfilosoficas/article/view/739

Authors

Sylvain Le Gall
Universidad de Cádiz
sylvainlg7@yahoo.es

Abstract

The present article is a critical discussion of the main classical theories in philosophy of language, with regard to the semantic issues of referential accessibility. It reviews the positions taken by proponents of physicalist reduction of the reference relation within the framework of a naturalized epistemology (Quine-Hempel thesis), followers of the linguistic-anthropological constructivism of sortal properties (Wiggins) and supporters of Kripke's theory of direct reference. The discussion opens with the debate of the problem of essentialism and metaphysical realism with regard to the reference relation to Natural Kind Terms and Possible Beings. Finally, introduces a semantic model of strong prescriptive nature, with a set theory formalization oriented to classifying Natural Kind Terms, Possible Beings and Fictitious Specimens without any ontological incompatibility between them.

Carnap, Rudolf. “Empiricism, semantics and ontology”. Meaning and Necessity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956. Print.

Donnellan, Keith. “Kripke and Putnam ‘Natural Kind Terms’”. Shoemaker, Sydney (ed.). Knowledge and Mind: Philosophical Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984. Print.

Dretske, Fred. “Laws of Nature”. Philosophy of Science. Jun. 1977: 248-268. Print.

Hempel, Carl. “Problems and changes in the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning”. Linsky, Leonard (ed.). Semantics and the Philosophy of Language. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1952. Print.

Kripke, Saul. “Naming and Necessity. The Princeton Lectures”. Davidson, Donald and Gilbert Harman (eds.). Semantics of Natural Language. Boston: Reidel, 1972. Print.

Kuhn, Thomas. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1962. Print.

Le Gall, Sylvain. Les sémantiques physicalistes et la théorie de la référence. Brest: Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 2002. Imprimé.

Nef, Frédéric. L’objet quelconque. Recherches sur l’ontologie de l’objet. Paris: Vrin, 2006. Imprimé.

Plantinga, Alvin. Essays in the Metaphysics of Modality. Davidson, Matthew (ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.

Putnam, Hilary. “The Meaning of ‘Meaning’”. Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science. 1975: 131-193. Print.

Quine, Willard Van Orman. “Identity, Ostention and Hypostasis”. The Journal of Philosophy. Oct. 1950: 621-633. Print.

---. “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”. From a Logical Point of View. Cambridge: Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1953. Print.

---. “Speaking of Objects”. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association. 1957-1958: 5-22. Print.

---. Word and Object. Cambridge. Mass.: MIT Press, 1960. Print.

Russell, Bertrand. “Mathematical Logic as Based on The Theory of Types”. American Journal of Mathematics. Jul. 1908: 222-262. Print.

Wiggins David. “Sortal Concepts: A Reply to Xu”. Mind and Language. Sep. 1997: 413-422, Print.
Sistema OJS - Metabiblioteca |