Reference and Essence (2nd ed.)

Description

In this new edition of an important work in the philosophy of language, Nathan U Salmon, one of the leading proponents of what has come to be called the new or causal theory of reference, presents his latest thinking on this promising area of study. Review ""Superior scholarship...reconstructs and clarifies recent arguments in an exemplary way. The thesis of the book (the underivability of essentialism from the theory of direct reference) is an exciting one, and forcefully argued. An invaluable work." From the Publisher The first edition won the 1984 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities, awarded by the Council of Graduate Schools in the United States. Preface to the first edition Preface to the expanded edition Introduction I. THE THEORY OF DIRECT REFERENCE 1. The theory of singular direct reference 2. The theory extended to general terms 3. Reference and the necessary a posteriori 4. Putnam's theory of natural kind terms II. THE PROGRAM TO DERIVE ESSENTIALISM FROM THE THEORY OF REFERENCE 5. The K and I mechanisms 6. Hidden essentialism in the K and I mechanisms 7. Arguments for the essentiality of origins CONCLUSION Appendix I. Principles of cross-world identification Appendix II. The essentialist principles in the K and I mechanisms Appendix III. Fregean theory and the four worlds paradox Appendix IV. Modal paradox: parts and counterparts, points and counterpoints Appendix V. Cross-world identification and stipulation Appendix VI. Letter to Teresa Robertson Appendix VII. Naming, necessity and beyond