Abstract

GARCIA-RAMIREZ, Eduardo. The Kind Membership Theory of Reference Fixing for Proper Names. Tópicos (México) [online]. 2014, n.47, pp.113-138. ISSN 0188-6649.

Gareth Evans (1973; 1982) presents what appears to be a successful common ground between descriptivist and direct-reference theories of reference fixing for proper names: the causal source theory of reference. In a recent paper, Imogen Dickie (2011) offers substantial objections to it and concludes by presenting a new alternative account, what she calls "the governance view." In this paper I want to offer yet another alternative version distinct from the governance view. I will show, first, how to deal with Dickie's objections without departing too far from Evan's original proposal, and, second, I will argue that the resulting theory -what I call "the kind-membership theory" is simpler and more successful than Dickie's.

Keywords : causal dependence; derivation; presupposition.

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