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Open inquiry11 min4 historical perspectives

How do words point to the world?

Compare two expressions for one object, a description with no matching object, and several uses of one word. Then separate what words point to from what they do.

Your judgments about what the expressions point to and do stay on this device and are not shared or transmitted.

This voyage creates neither a score nor a philosophy profile.

Enter the historical conversation.

Different views show the same evidence-backed material. The map does not replace events whose location is unknown.

  1. 11892Frege — One object, different modes of presentation

    Gottlob Frege · On Sense and Reference

    Does pointing to the same Venus make the meaning and information of the two expressions the same?

    “Ueber Sinn und Bedeutung” appeared in 1892 in volume 100 of Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik, pages 25–50.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Ueber Sinn und Bedeutung

      Gottlob Frege · 1892 · Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik 100, pages 25–50; Max Planck public record and PDF

      Locator: Article metadata, pages 25–50

      Open source

    Frege raises the puzzle that true statements of the forms a=a and a=b may concern the same identity while differing in cognitive significance.

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    • Ueber Sinn und Bedeutung

      Gottlob Frege · 1892 · Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik 100, pages 25–50; Max Planck public record and PDF

      Locator: Pages 25–26

      Open source

    • Gottlob Frege

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 3.1.1

      Open source

    The Morning Star and the Evening Star refer to the same Venus but present it differently, so discovering their identity can be informative.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Ueber Sinn und Bedeutung

      Gottlob Frege · 1892 · Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik 100, pages 25–50; Max Planck public record and PDF

      Locator: Pages 26–27

      Open source

    • Gottlob Frege

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Sections 3.1.1 and 3.2

      Open source

    Frege proposes that names and descriptions have sense as well as denotation, and that sense helps explain cognitive significance.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Ueber Sinn und Bedeutung

      Gottlob Frege · 1892 · Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik 100, pages 25–50; Max Planck public record and PDF

      Locator: Pages 27–31

      Open source

    • Gottlob Frege

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 3.2

      Open source

    On Frege’s distinction, an expression can have a sense while lacking an ordinary denotation.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Ueber Sinn und Bedeutung

      Gottlob Frege · 1892 · Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik 100, pages 25–50; Max Planck public record and PDF

      Locator: Pages 29–31

      Open source

    • Gottlob Frege

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 3.2

      Open source

    Frege worked at Jena during this period, but the current sources do not establish the exact place where he composed this essay.

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    • Gottlob Frege

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Life and academic career at Jena

      Open source

    • Geschichte des Instituts für Philosophie

      Friedrich Schiller University Jena · Institutional history of philosophy at Jena

      Locator: Institutional history: Frege’s work at Jena

      Open source

    1. Frege teaches and works at Jena; this marker does not identify the place where the article was written or published.

      1892 · Jena · 강의·재직

    2. “Ueber Sinn und Bedeutung” appears in journal volume 100, pages 25–50.

      1892

  2. 21905Russell — What an empty description contributes

    Bertrand Russell · On Denoting

    If there is no person to refer to, is the sentence meaningless, or can we analyze a structure under which it is false?

    “On Denoting” appeared in 1905 in Mind, volume XIV, issue 4, pages 479–493.

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    • On Denoting

      Bertrand Russell · 1905 · Mind XIV(4), pages 479–493; DOI 10.1093/mind/XIV.4.479

      Locator: Article metadata, pages 479–493

      Open source

    Russell distinguishes denoting phrases that may fail to denote anything despite their descriptive form.

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    • On Denoting

      Bertrand Russell · 1905 · Institutional full text hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong

      Locator: Page 479

      Open source

    A sentence of the form the F is G is analyzed in terms of existence, uniqueness, and predication at the sentence level.

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    • On Denoting

      Bertrand Russell · 1905 · Institutional full text hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong

      Locator: Pages 480–482 and 488–490

      Open source

    • Descriptions

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 2

      Open source

    Once the analysis is expanded, a definite description does not remain a single sentence constituent like a proper name but contributes within a quantified structure.

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    • On Denoting

      Bertrand Russell · 1905 · Institutional full text hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong

      Locator: Pages 488–490

      Open source

    • Descriptions

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Sections 2–3

      Open source

    The absence of an object satisfying a description does not by itself make the whole sentence meaningless; under the analysis it may be false.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • On Denoting

      Bertrand Russell · 1905 · Institutional full text hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong

      Locator: Pages 479 and 484–490

      Open source

    Different scopes of negation distinguish the F is not G from the denial that there is a unique F that is G.

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    • On Denoting

      Bertrand Russell · 1905 · Institutional full text hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong

      Locator: Pages 489–490

      Open source

    • Descriptions

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 3.1

      Open source

    Russell’s truth-conditional analysis was followed by important objections and alternatives concerning existence, uniqueness, and context, including those associated with Strawson.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Descriptions

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 5

      Open source

    1. “On Denoting” appears in Mind XIV(4), pages 479–493.

      1905

  3. 31945 and 1953Later Wittgenstein — Words at work in activities

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · Philosophical Investigations

    Can the meaning of the same word be explained only by pairing it with one object?

    The preface to Philosophical Investigations is dated Cambridge, January 1945, and the work was published posthumously in German and English by Basil Blackwell in Oxford in 1953.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Philosophische Untersuchungen

      Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

      Locator: Preface: Cambridge, January 1945

      Open source

    • Philosophical Investigations

      Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1953 · Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1953; WorldCat record OCLC 301079

      Locator: Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1953

      Open source

    • Ludwig Wittgenstein

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 3.2

      Open source

    Section 1 begins from a picture in which words name objects and sentences combine names, without endorsing it as the final account of all language.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Philosophische Untersuchungen

      Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

      Locator: Section 1

      Open source

    • Ludwig Wittgenstein

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Sections 3.2–3.4

      Open source

    The builder language in sections 2–3 works for a limited system joining names and actions but does not cover everything we call language.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Philosophische Untersuchungen

      Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

      Locator: Sections 2–3

      Open source

    • Ludwig Wittgenstein

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 3.4

      Open source

    Section 23 stresses the diversity of uses of words and sentences and treats speaking as part of an activity or form of life.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Philosophische Untersuchungen

      Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

      Locator: Section 23

      Open source

    Section 30 says that an ostensive definition can explain a use only when the role of the word in language is already sufficiently clear.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Philosophische Untersuchungen

      Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

      Locator: Section 30

      Open source

    Sections 42–44 compare ways in which a name whose bearer is absent or gone can still be used meaningfully within a particular language-game.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Philosophische Untersuchungen

      Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

      Locator: Sections 42–44

      Open source

    Section 43 explains the meaning of a word as its use in language for a large class of cases, while expressly not claiming this for every case.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Philosophische Untersuchungen

      Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

      Locator: Section 43

      Open source

    1. The preface records Cambridge, January 1945 as its place and date.

      January 1945 · Cambridge · 저술

    2. The German and English edition is published posthumously by Basil Blackwell in Oxford.

      1953 · Oxford · 출판

  4. 41970 and 1980Kripke — Names and descriptions under counterfactual conditions

    Saul Kripke · Naming and Necessity

    Could the same name still refer to the object if that object did not satisfy the description?

    The core of Naming and Necessity is associated with the 1970 Princeton lectures and was followed by a 1972 transcript/article and the 1980 book.

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    • Vale Saul Kripke, 1940–2022

      Princeton University Department of Philosophy

      Locator: 1970 Princeton Three Lecture Series

      Open source

    • Naming and Necessity

      Saul A. Kripke · 1980 · Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1980; WorldCat record OCLC 5726909

      Locator: Harvard University Press, 1980 edition metadata

      Open source

    • Reference

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Bibliography: Kripke 1972 and 1980

      Open source

    A rigid designator is explained as an expression that designates the same object, and no other object, across possible situations in which that object exists.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Rigid Designators

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Sections 1.1–1.2

      Open source

    In a standard Kripkean comparison, the proper names Hesperus and Phosphorus are rigid, whereas an ordinary description may be satisfied by different objects in different situations.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Rigid Designators

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 1.1

      Open source

    An identity between two rigid names can be necessary if true, even though learning that identity may require empirical discovery.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Rigid Designators

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Sections 1.1 and 3.1

      Open source

    A description may be used to fix a reference initially without being synonymous with the name.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Naming and Necessity

      Saul A. Kripke · 1980 · Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1980; WorldCat record OCLC 5726909

      Locator: Pages 54–56

      Open source

    • Rigid Designators

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 2.2.2

      Open source

    Cases in which a speaker can ask about a person using a transmitted name without knowing a uniquely identifying description are used against descriptivism.

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    Original-language terms are kept distinct from Korean and English explanations; no direct quotation is used.

    • Reference

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Section 2.1

      Open source

    1. The core lectures are delivered in Princeton’s Three Lecture Series.

      1970 · Princeton · 발표

    2. The book Naming and Necessity is published by Harvard University Press.

      1980 · Cambridge, MA · 출판