The New Theory of Reference

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. The Apa Exchange

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Marcus, Kripke, and the Origin of the New Theory of Reference

      • Quentin Smith

      Pages 3-12

   3. Revisionism about Reference: A Reply to Smith

      • Scott Soames

      Pages 13-35

   4. Marcus and the New Theory of Reference: A Reply to Scott Soames

      • Quentin Smith

      Pages 37-61

3. Replies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 63-63

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   2. More Revisionism about Reference

      • Scott Soames

      Pages 65-87

   3. Marcus, Kripke, and Names

      • John P. Burgess

      Pages 89-124

   4. How not to Write History of Philosophy: A Case Study

      • John P. Burgess

      Pages 125-136

   5. Direct, Rigid Designation and a Posteriori Necessity: A History and Critique

      • Quentin Smith

      Pages 137-178

4. Historical Origins

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 179-179

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   2. Referential Opacity and Modal Logic

      • Dagfinn Føllesdal

      Pages 181-202

   3. An Exposition and Development of Kanger’s Early Semantics for Modal Logic

      • Sten Lindström

      Pages 203-233

   4. A More Comprehensive History of the New Theory of Reference

      • Quentin Smith

      Pages 235-283

5. Back Matter

   Pages 285-290

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On January 20th, 22nd, and 29th, 1970 Saul Kripke delivered three lectures at Princeton University. They produced something of a sensation. In the lectures he argued, amongst other things, that many names in ordinary language referred to objects directly rather than by means of associated descriptions; that causal chains from language user to language user were an important mechanism for preserving reference; that there were necessary a posteriori and contingent a priori truths; that identity relations between rigid designators were necessary; and argued, more tentatively, that materialist identity theories in the philosophy of mind were suspect. Interspersed with this was a consider­ able amount of material on natural kind terms and essentialism. As a result of these lectures and a related 1971 paper, 'Identity and Necessity' (Kripke [1971]), talk of rigid designators, Hesperus and Phosphorus, meter bars, gold and H 0, and suchlike quickly became commonplace in philosophical circles 2 and when the lectures were published under the title Naming and Necessity in the collection The Semantics of Natural Language (Davidson and Harman l [1972]), that volume became the biggest seller in the Reidel (later Kluwer) list. The cluster of theses surrounding the idea that a relation of direct reference 2 exists between names and their referents is now frequently referred to as 'The 3 New Theory of Reference'.

• Enzo Paci
• design
• history
• history of literature
• history of philosophy
• modal logic
• semantic
• semantics
• subject
• will

• University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA

  Paul W. Humphreys

• University of Minnesota, Duluth, USA

  James H. Fetzer

Policies and ethics