Explain what the meaning of a name is. Justify your view as fully as you can.

Explain what the meaning of a name is. Justify your view as fully as you can.

Guidance:

You should take it as a presumption of the essay that names are expressions in language whose role is to pick out a unique individual.

You can chose to focus on and, perhaps, argue for the Millian view, the Fregean view or the Russellian view; but ideally, whichever you choose to focus on, you should use the other views to compare, contrast and examine.

⎯ Give brief, pointed and accurate expositions of relevant philosophical views.

⎯ Do not simply describe the view but explain the reasons for it, either reasons the
philosopher gives or reasons you (or other philosophers) supply. Make sure you distinguish these.

Here are some issues you may focus on:

• You must explain how the view accounts (or views account) for the fact that an object can be denoted in more than one way.
• Are there informative identity statements involving only pairs of names?
• If so, how do we explain this?
• If not, how do we explain the appearance that there are?
• Are there names which fail to denote anything?
• If so, how is this explained?
• If not, how do we explain the appearance that there are?

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