Elbourne Paul. Definite Descriptions

Oxford University Press, 2013. — 272 pages. — ISBN: 0199660204; 0199660190This book argues that definite descriptions ('the table', 'the King of France') refer to individuals, as Gottlob Frege claimed. This apparently simple conclusion flies in the face of philosophical orthodoxy, which incorporates Bertrand Russell's theory that definite descriptions are devices of quantification. Paul Elbourne presents the first fully-argued defence of the Fregean view. He builds an explicit fragment of English using a version of situation semantics. He uses intrinsic aspects of his system to account for the presupposition projection behaviour of definite descriptions, a range of modal properties, and the problem of incompleteness. At the same time, he draws on an unusually wide range of linguistic and philosophical literature, from early work by Frege, Peano, and Russell to the latest findings in linguistics, philosophy of language, and psycholinguistics. His penultimate chapter addresses the semantics of pronouns and offers a new and more radical version of his earlier thesis that they too are Fregean definite descriptions.Situation Semantics
On Situation Semantics
Introduction to the Formal System
The Formal System
Some Situation-Semantic Technicalities
The Definite Article
Definite Descriptions in Frege and Strawson
A Fregean Theory of the Definite Article
PresuppositionPresupposition Projection
Possibility Modals
Conditionals and Disjunction
Negation
Presupposition Obviation[/b]Referential and AttributiveA Problem for Russell?
A Problem for Frege and Strawson?
Predicative UseAnaphoraADonkeySentencewithaRelativeClause
A Donkey Sentence with a Quantificational Adverb
C-Commanded Bound Definite DescriptionsModalityTheDe Re/De DictoAmbiguity
Going Back
After Cresswell 1990
After Kratzer 2010Existence EntailmentsHKE’s Objection to Russell
KN’s Response to HKE
A First Response to KN’s Response
A SecondResponsetoKN’sResponse
The Fregean Theory
Other Determiners
Possibility ModalsIncompleteness
Implicit Content and Incomplete Descriptions
Five Theories of Incomplete Descriptions
An Argument from Sloppy IdentityPronounsThe Syntax and Semantics of Pronouns
Anaphora
Referential Pronouns
Descriptive Indexicals
Voldemort Phrases
Sloppy Readings
Anaphora to Facts and Propositions
Problems with Focus
Psycholinguistic Evidence