Wettstein on definite descriptions

Philosophical Studies 53 (2):263 - 278 (1988)
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Abstract

I critically examine an argument, due to howard wettstein, purporting to show that sentences containing definite descriptions are semantically ambiguous between referential and attributive readings. Wettstein argues that many sentences containing nonidentifying descriptions--descriptions that apply to more than one object--cannot be given a Russellian analysis, and that the descriptions in these sentences should be understood as directly referential terms. But because Wettstein does not justify treating referential uses of nonidentifying descriptions differently than attributive uses of nonidentifying descriptions, his argument fails

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William Blackburn
University of Toronto (PhD)

Citations of this work

Context and logical form.Jason Stanley - 2000 - Linguistics and Philosophy 23 (4):391--434.
Shared Content.Herman Cappelen & Ernest Lepore - 2006 - In Ernest LePore & Barry C. Smith, The Oxford Handbook to the Philosophy of Language. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 1020--1055.

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