On intuitions about proper names

Author: Peth, Gergely

Source: Acta Linguistica Hungarica, Volume 52, Numbers 2-3, 11 October 2005 , pp. 281-301(21)

Publisher: Akademiai Kiado

Abstract:

Machery et al (2004) carried out an experiment which tests the intuition of US and Chinese students about the use of proper names. They arrived at the conclusion that the way most respondents used proper names is not compatible with the causal-historical theory of proper names as advocated by Kripke. The author argues that Machery et al. are wrong in their conclusions. The problem is not just that the interpretation of the findings of their experiments does not take into account some variables that should have been considered, but rather that the experiment is faulty in several respects: their empirical hypothesis is arguably inconsistent, and the setup of the experiment is flawed.

Keywords: proper names; Kripke; thought experiments; reference; cultural relativism

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2005-10-11

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