The metalinguistic description theory of proper names.
Résumé
The metalinguistic description theory of proper names The 1970s were characterized by a profound reflection on the theories of reference that could account for proper names. As early as 1958, Searle reaffirmed the value of Frege's intensionalist position (1892), in which the meaning of a proper name constitutes a necessary and sufficient condition for fixing its reference (indirect reference theory), while Kripke (1972) andDonnellan (1974) argue in favor of a causal theory of reference in which proper names lack a meaning (Mill's theoretical position, 1862) but nonetheless have well-defined conditions of denotation based on baptismal ceremonies and their causal effects (direct reference theory). Katz (1977, 1979, 1994) attempted to reconcile these two antagonistic theoretical positions by developing a metalinguistic approach to proper name rooted in syntax and semantics, but also in pragmatics. After briefly recalling the debate between the theories of direct and indirect reference, this communication will analyze the concepts used by Katz to account for the reference of proper names from a metalinguistic point of view. The case of two puzzles (bearerless proper names and proper names with multiple bearers) will then be examined in order to consider the respective influence of Frege-Searle and Kripke-Donnellan on this approach. By rehabilitating Katz's little-known approach to proper name, this study will shed new light on a controversy that is still relevant today.
| Licence |
|---|