2. - A proponent of analytic philosophy
- He had Ludwig Wittgenstein as his
protégé
- Main goal was to reduce
mathematics to logic
- His intentions and aspirations, as
regards the creation and
development of his theory of
description, is still a topic of endless
scholastic and historic discussions.
- Before his theory of
description, logic was never really the
criterion of meaning.
BRIEF HISTORY ON BERTRAND
RUSSELL & HIS THEORY OF
DESCRIPTION
3. BRIEF HISTORY ON BERTRAND
RUSSELL & HIS THEORY OF
DESCRIPTION
- A proponent of analytic philosophy
- He had Ludwig Wittgenstein as his
protégé
- Main goal was to reduce
mathematics to logic
- His intentions and aspirations, as
regards the creation and
development of his theory of
description, is still a topic of endless
scholastic and historic discussions.
- Before his theory of
description, logic was never really the
criterion of meaning.
4. - Presents the theory
- Gives his criticism
- Tests the strength of the theory
- Explores the implications of his theory
PROCEDURE
5. IMPORTANCE OF HIS THEORY
Direct implications to logic, math, and epistimology.
The distinction between…
Aquaintance - Knowledge about
“The distinction between acquaintance and knowledge about
is the distinction between the things we have
presentations of, and the things we only reach by means
of denoting phrases.”
6. 3 KINDS OF DENOTING PHRASES
A. “The present prime minister of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Non-referential denoting phrase
B. “The present drummer of Dreamtheater.”
Specific Referent
C. “A man.”
Ambiguous
7. THEORY
BR‟s formulation of a proposition:
C(x)
“Nix is handsome.”
True proposition
He applies it to the most fundamental of
denoting phrases e.g. everything, nothing and
something.
8. E C(x) is always true.
N “C(x) is false” is always true.
S It is false that “C(x) is false” is always true
- Double negation
This becomes very important in his solution to non-
referential phrases, and the distinction between
primary and secondary occurrences.
“All humans are mammals.”
9. “THE NOTION OF THE VARIABLE IS FUNDAMENTAL.”
If we look at the logical form of a denoting phrase, it would seem that
they have no meaning per se.
“…every proposition in whose verbal expression they occur has meaning.”
Denoting phrases really have no meaning in themselves, whether or not it has a
referent because it only affects the truth value.
Meaning - Truth Value
10. “Moriarty is the Napoleon of crime.”
There being no referent for “Moriarty”, it does not make
the proposition nonsensical/meaningless because it is
plainly false.
This proves to be a very advantageous view.
11. A. “I met a man.”
Ambiguous DP
“ „I met x, and x is human‟ is not always false.”
“ „C(x) and x is human‟ is not always false.”
B. “All men are mortal.”
“ „If x is human, x is mortal‟ is always true.”
“ „If x is human‟ implies „x is mortal‟ for all values of x.”
“C (all men)” means “ „If x is human, then C (x) is true‟ is always true”.
“C (no men)” means “ „If x is human, then C (x) is false‟ is always true”.
“C (a man)” means “It is false that „C (x) and x is human‟ is always false”.
If we substitute “x is human” for “x is a man”
12. PUZZLES AND CRITICISM
A. “The” phrases
Uniqueness
If so-and-so had a plurality of sons:
“The father of Charles II. was executed.”
Singularity
“It is not always false of x that x begat Charles II., and that
x was executed, and that „If y begat Charles II., y is identical
with x‟ is always true of y.”
“ x begat Charles II” - Father
“if y begat Charles II., y is identical with x” - Uniqueness
“x begat Charles II., and „if y begat Charles II., y is identical
with x‟ is always true of y.”
The son of so-and-so
A son of so-and-so
13. “Charles II. had one father and no more.”
If this condition fails, all propositions in the form C(the father of
Charles II) are all false.
Russell‟s suggestion:
“There is one and only one entity that begat Charles II., and that
one was executed.”
“The pope called me on my phone.”
14. B. Non-referential phrases
Meinong Gramatically correct denoting phrases stand for object.
“These do not subsist, but are still objects.”
An infringement of the law of non-contradiction.
15. FREGE
“The king of France is bald” should be nonsensical since it has no referent.
It is not because it is plainly false.
Frege seems to answer this problem by saying that the “The king of France” denotes the
null class.
It doesn‟t really necessarily answer the question
completely!
Another infringement of the law of contradiction.
It refers to the null class.
It actually has no referent.
16. Puzzles
A. Scott = Scott? - Identity
B. Excluded middle - “A is B” or “A is not B”
C. Difference - “The difference between A
and B does not subsist.
17. Frege‟s theory suffers mostly when both sense and reference are present!
C “C”
“Meaning of C”
“ Meaning of „C‟ ”
Meaning of C = “C”
18. “…if we speak of “the meaning of C,” that gives us the
meaning if any, of the denotation. “The meaning of the first
line of Gray‟s Elegy” is the same as “The meaning of the „The
curfew tolls the knell of parting day,‟ “ and is not the same as
“The meaning of „the first line of Gray‟s Elegy‟ “. Thus in
order to get the meaning we want, we must speak not of “the
meaning of C, “ but of “the meaning of “C,‟ “ which is the
same as “C” by itself. Similarly “the denotation of C” does not
mean the detonation we want, but means something which, if it
denotes at all, denotes what is denoted by the detonation we
want.
19. “According to the view which I advocate, a denoting phrase is
essentially part of a sentence, and does not, like most single
words, have any significance on its own account. If I say
“Scott was a man,” that is a statement of the form “x was a
man,” and it has “Scott” for its subject. But if I say “the
author of Waverly was a man,‟ that is not a statement of the
form “x was a man,” and does not have “the author of
Waverly” for its subject.”
22. SUMMARY
- Where does meaning reside?
- Author of Waverly ≠ Scott
We can reduce it to logical terms where
“Scott” cannot be replaced with
“Author of Waverly.”
- Denoting phrases have both truth value
and meaning; the two being mutually
exclusive.
