Card 6.10.1 · Root VI — The Philosophy of X Family
Reference
What makes your word for a thing refer to that thing?
This node asks how a word connects to the thing it is about — what makes a name pick out one person, or a term one kind. It covers both what a referring expression contributes to meaning and what fixes its bearer.
On this card
Where it sits
Under 6.10 Philosophy of language. Borders 1.6 Modality, 1.1.2 Universals, 1.3.3 Intentionality.
Major theories and questions about reference
| Position | Claim |
|---|---|
| Simple descriptivism | The name is associated with a description the object uniquely satisfies |
| Cluster descriptivism | A weighted cluster of descriptions, most of which must fit |
| Millian / direct reference | The name's semantic contribution is its bearer |
| Causal-historical | A chain reaching back from current use to an initial naming |
| Externalist accounts | For natural-kind terms, content is fixed partly by the environment and by the division of linguistic labour |
| Deflationary | Reference has no substantive nature to analyse: disquotational, propositional and anaphoric accounts explain the use of "refers" without positing a word–world relation |
Key figures
| Figure | Dates | Tradition | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gottlob Frege | 1848–1925 | Analytic | Sense and reference; the puzzle of identity statements |
| Bertrand Russell | 1872–1970 | Analytic | Theory of descriptions |
| Saul Kripke | 1940–2022 | Analytic | Causal-historical picture of reference; rigid designation |
| Hilary Putnam | 1926–2016 | Analytic | Twin Earth; meanings are not in the head |
| Dignāga | c. 480–540 | Indian Buddhist | Apoha: linguistic and conceptual classification through exclusion of the other; included as a cross-tradition comparison, not as a causal theory of object reference |
Also on this question: Gongsun Long
Connections
→ 6.10 · ↔ 1.6, 1.1.2, 1.3.3, 5.2.2 · ◇ descriptivism, causal theory of reference, externalism · ○ Classical; Modern; Table 3
→ narrower questions · ↔ questions it borders · ◇ the positions, mapped in Part III of the book · ○ the eras and comparison tables (Parts IV and V)
The full card is in the book
In The Coordinates of Thought this card goes on to a worked example that sets the answers against one case, and to where the question touches daily life — page 288.
On Coordinates of Thought
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