Research Group
in Analytic Philosophy

Between Singularity and Generality: The Semantic Life of Proper Names

06 February 2013  |  15:00  |  Seminari de Filosofia UB

Abstract

Although the view that sees proper names as referential singular terms is widely considered orthodoxy, there is a growing popularity to the view that proper names are predicates. I argue that the predicate view of proper names is mistaken. In the first part of the paper I analyse the predicate view in its main contentions and offer several arguments reject it. The second part of the paper is devoted to present a positive account of proper names.