Communities of Dialogue Russian and Ukrainian Émigrés in Modernist Prague

Repository | Book | Chapter

183327

Undefined definite descriptions

Charles Daniels

pp. 39-44

Abstract

Bertrand Russell [8] and John Bacon [1] argue that definite descriptions are not what they seem — referring terms on a par with names. Instead, they propose contextual definitions which serve to eliminate them. Russell analyses the sentence "the F Gs' as "there is at most one x such that Fx and there is at least one xsuch that Fx and Gx'. Bacon analyses it as "for all x if x uniquely Fs, then Gx. ' In either case all sentences containing definite descriptions are true or false even when there fails to be a unique entity described. For Russell "The present King of France is bald' is false, for Bacon true. Bacon's analysis, in particular, meshes nicely with a feature of generalizations: "All present Kings of France are bald' is also true when there are no present Kings of France.

Publication details

Published in:

Spohn Wolfgang, Skyrms Brian, van Fraassen Bas C (1991) Existence and explanation: essays presented in honor of Karel Lambert. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 39-44

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-011-3244-2_4

Full citation:

Daniels Charles (1991) „Undefined definite descriptions“, In: W. Spohn, B. Skyrms & B.C. Van Fraassen (eds.), Existence and explanation, Dordrecht, Springer, 39–44.