David, Some Davids, and All Davids: Reference, Category Change, and Bearerhood of Real-Life Names

dc.contributor
Universitat de Barcelona. Facultat de Filosofia
dc.contributor.author
Delgado Aqueveque, Laura Angelina
dc.date.accessioned
2018-06-01T10:18:31Z
dc.date.available
2018-06-01T10:18:31Z
dc.date.issued
2018-05-25
dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10803/565822
dc.description.abstract
This essay is devoted to the study of proper names. Although the view that sees proper names as referential singular terms is widely considered orthodoxy, there is a growing popularity to the view that proper names are predicates. This is partly because the orthodoxy faces two anomalies that Predicativism can solve: on the one hand, proper names can have multiple bearers. But multiple bearerhood is prima facie a problem to the idea that proper names have just one individual as referent. On the other hand, proper names can have predicative uses. But the view that proper names are singular terms arguably does not have the resources to deal with these uses. In this dissertation I argue that the Predicate View of proper names is mistaken. In the first part of the thesis, I analyse this view in its main con- tentions and offer several arguments to reject it. This critical exercise provides useful insight into the life of proper names that I incorporate in my own view as follows: I argue that the behaviour of proper names should be understood in light of the wider phenomenon I call category change. Thus, I maintain, with orthodoxy, that proper names are fundamentally referential terms, but I also argue that they also have other uses, including the predicative uses highlighted by the predicativist. I also offer a semantic theory according to which proper names are polyreferential, that is, they are terms that can have more than one referent in a way that is distinct from both plural terms and general terms. This theory resolves the problem of multiple bearerhood and provides a base to account for all other uses of proper names that are not referential, i.e., common noun, adjectival and verbal uses, as semantically derived from the more fundamental referential meaning.
dc.format.extent
159 p.
dc.format.mimetype
application/pdf
dc.language.iso
eng
dc.publisher
Universitat de Barcelona
dc.rights.license
L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.rights.uri
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
*
dc.source
TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa)
dc.subject
Filosofia del llenguatge
dc.subject
Filosofía del lenguaje
dc.subject
Philosophy of language
dc.subject.other
Ciències Humanes i Socials
dc.title
David, Some Davids, and All Davids: Reference, Category Change, and Bearerhood of Real-Life Names
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.subject.udc
1
dc.contributor.director
García-Carpintero, Manuel
dc.contributor.tutor
García-Carpintero, Manuel
dc.embargo.terms
cap
dc.rights.accessLevel
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess


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