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This excellent book is aptly titled, for
in it Scott Soames systematically discusses
and greatly extends the semantic views that
Saul Kripke presented in Naming and Necessity.
As Soames does this, he touches on a wide
variety of semantic topics, all of which
he treats with his characteristically high
degree of clarity, depth, and precision.
Anyone who is interested in the semantic
issues raised by Naming and Necessity, or
in more recent work on proper names, attitude
ascriptions, and natural kind terms, will
find this book indispensable.
1. Summary
Kripke criticized descriptivist theories
of proper names in the first lecture of his
Naming and Necessity. Soames begins his book
by discussing descriptivist responses to
Kripke's criticisms. Kripke argued that if
descriptivist theories were correct, then
certain modal sentences would be true, when,
in fact, they are not. For example, if 'Aristotle'
meant the same as 'the teacher of Alexander',
then 'Necessarily, if there was exactly one
teacher of Alexander, then Aristotle taught
Alexander' would be true, though, in fact,
it is false. In response, descriptivists
formulated two new theories. The first, the
wide scope theory, holds that proper names
are synonymous with definite descriptions
that always take wide scope over modal operators
and quantifiers over possible worlds. The
second, the rigidified description theory,
holds that proper names are synonymous with
definite descriptions that contain the rigidifying
operator 'actually': for instance, 'Aristotle'
means the same as 'the thing that is actually
teacher of Alexander'. Both responses would
enable descriptivists to escape Kripke's
modal objections (though not his epistemic
and semantic objections). In response to
the wide scope theory, Soames argues that
certain valid arguments containing proper
names turn out to be invalid on that theory,
simply because the name always takes wide
scope. In response to the rigidified description
theory, Soames claims that many agents in
other worlds believe what we believe when
we sincerely assert 'Aristotle was a philosopher'.
But on the rigidified descriptivist view,
when we sincerely assert this sentence, we
express our belief in a proposition about
world Aw, the world that is actual for us.
So, on this view, an agent in another world
believes what we do only if she believes
a proposition about Aw. But this would be
exceedingly difficult for her to do. Soames
concludes that, contrary to the rigidified
descriptivist theory, we do not express belief
in a proposition about Aw when we sincerely
assert 'Aristotle was a philosopher'.
The most obvious alternative to descriptivist
theories of proper names is the theory that
the meaning of a proper name is simply its
referent. This theory is commonly attributed
to John Stuart Mill. Kripke noted the connection
between his arguments and Millianism, but
he did not endorse that theory. Indeed, as
Soames points out (and as Salmon [1986] did
before him), some of Kripke's claims about
necessary a posteriori truths are inconsistent
with Millianism. Soames uses his third chapter,
titled "The Meaning of Proper Names,"
to argue in favor of Millianism. It is perhaps
the heart of the book.
Soames assumes that the goal of semantic
theorizing is to specify the semantic contents
of expressions with respect to contexts.
He assumes that the semantic content of a
sentence, with respect to a context, is a
Russellian structured proposition. These
propositions have as constituents the semantic
contents of the sentence's semantically significant
parts. These contents include individuals,
relations, and other propositions. A proposition
that has an individual as a constituent is
a singular proposition. Within this framework,
Soames argues for Millianism indirectly,
by first discussing the semantic contents
of unambiguous, context-insensitive sentences
containing proper names. Soames distinguishes
between (i) the semantic contents of such
sentences and (ii) the propositions that
speakers assert and convey by uttering such
sentences. Consider, for instance, the sentence
'Susan is tall and Bob is short'. A speaker
who assertively utters this sentence asserts
the proposition that Susan is tall and Bob
is short, but she also asserts at least two
other propositions, the proposition that
Susan is tall and the proposition that Bob
is short. The first proposition is a plausible
candidate for being the semantic content
of the sentence, but the latter two are not.
Soames argues that speakers who utter sentences
containing proper names always assert at
least a Russellian singular proposition about
the referent of the name. But they usually
also assert and convey various descriptive
propositions. Consider, for instance, a speaker
who utters (1).
1. Carl Hempel lived on Lake Lane in Princeton.
Such a speaker asserts the Russellian singular
proposition that Hempel lived on Lake Lane
in Princeton; the sole constituents of this
proposition are Hempel himself and the property
of having lived on Lake Lane in Princeton.
However, a speaker who utters (1) usually
also asserts and conveys a richer descriptive
proposition, for instance, the proposition
that the philosopher of science, Carl Hempel,
lived on Lake Lane in Princeton. The descriptive
propositions that speakers assert and convey
with utterances of
(1) differ from speaker to speaker and occasion
to occasion. One reason for this is that
there are no properties that a speaker must
associate with 'Carl Hempel' in order to
be competent with that name (except perhaps
for some very general property, such as being
sentient). If no such association is required
to be competent with the name, then there
is no particular descriptive proposition
that a competent speaker always asserts when
she utters (1).
What, if anything, does this show about the
semantic content of (1)? Soames proposes
roughly the following analysis of the notion
of semantic content for an unambiguous, context-insensitive
sentence S: proposition P is the semantic
content of S iff P is the proposition that
all competent speakers assert and convey
with all utterances of (1). (I here ignore
qualifications that Soames adds in order
to handle certain complications; these are
irrelevant to what follows below.) This notion
of semantic content, Soames says, coincides
closely with much of our ordinary conception
of linguistic meaning and with the notion
of meaning assumed by most theorists. But
the singular, Russellian proposition that
Carl Hempel lived on Lake Lane in Princeton
is the only proposition that is asserted
in all assertive utterances of (1). Thus,
Soames concludes that the semantic content
of (1) is the singular, Russellian proposition
that Carl Hempel lived on Lake Lane in Princeton.
Therefore, the semantic content of the name
'Carl Hempel' is Hempel himself, just as
Millianism says.
On Soames's Millian-Russellian theory, the
semantic content of (2) is the same as that
of (1), because the identity sentence (3)
is true.
2. Peter Hempel lived on Lake Lane in Princeton.
3. Peter Hempel was Carl Hempel.
Similarly, the semantic content of (3) is
the same as that of (4).
4. Carl Hempel was Carl Hempel.
This leads Soames to consider the following
objection. According to Soames's Millian-Russellian
theory, sentences (3) and (4) have the same
semantic content. But if they did have the
same semantic content, then competent speakers
who understood (3) and (4) would judge that
they mean the same thing. But ordinary speakers
don't. Therefore, the Millian-Russellian
theory is not true. In reply, Soames argues
that ordinary speakers do not usually think
about the rather theoretical notion of semantic
content when they make judgments about sameness
and difference in meaning. To judge accurately
whether (3) and (4) have the same semantic
content, one must consider whether the proposition
that is invariantly asserted in all utterances
of (3), and the proposition that is invariantly
asserted in all utterances of (4), are the
same proposition. Ordinary speakers do not
do this, when asked to judge whether (3)
and (4) mean the same thing. Instead, they
consider whether (3) and (4) could be used
to assert and convey different descriptive
propositions. They correctly judge that the
sentences could be so used. Therefore, they
judge that the sentences do not mean the
same thing, even though the sentences do
have the same semantic content.
After discussing ambiguity and indexicality
in the Millian-Russellian theory, Soames
considers what he calls 'partially descriptive
names', which include expressions like 'Justice
Antonin Scalia', 'Professor Saul Kripke',
and 'Princeton, New Jersey'. He claims that
the semantic contents of these are roughly
the same as the semantic contents of certain
definite descriptions. For instance, the
semantic content of the first is roughly
the same as that of 'the thing that is a
Justice and is identical with x', under an
assignment of Antonin Scalia to the variable
'x'. Soames argues that simple proper names
are not analyzable as partially descriptive
names whose semantic contents include contingent
properties of their referents. For instance,
the semantic content of 'Hesperus' does not
include the property being a heavenly body
visible in the evening. Soames does not,
however, rule out the possibility that the
semantic content of a name might include
some very general property that is essential
to the referent. For instance, Soames does
not try to rule out the possibility that
the semantic content of 'Carl Hempel' is
the same as that of 'the thing that is a
sentient being and is identical with z',
under an assignment of Hempel to the variable
'z'. (More on this below.)
Soames next considers propositional attitude
ascriptions. He points out that, on the most
straightforward extension of the Millian-Russellian
view to attitude ascriptions, the following
sentences attribute to Edward belief in the
same singular, Russellian proposition.
5. Edward believes that Carl Hempel lived
on Lake Lane in Princeton.
6. Edward believes that Peter Hempel lived
on Lake Lane in Princeton.
So (5) and (6) have the same semantic content,
and the same truth value. Soames admits that
this consequence is counterintuitive, but
thinks it is correct.
To defend his view, Soames first criticizes
the two theories that he takes to be the
best alternatives to his theory, namely the
theory advocated by Richard Larson and Peter
Ludlow and the theory advocated by Mark Richard.
Both theories say that agents bear attitudes
towardslinguistically enhanced propositions,
which are (roughly) amalgams of Russellian
propositions with words. For example, on
these views, (5) says that Edward stands
in the believing relation to a proposition
that has both Hempel himself and the name
'Carl Hempel' as constituents. Soames thinks
that Larson and Ludlow's theory is open to
various interpretations. On its most plausible
interpretation, Soames says, it incorrectly
entails that any two belief attributions
that differ in wording in any respect can
differ in truth value: for example, 'Maria
believes that John speaks Spanish' and 'Maria
cree que John habla espaņol' (in Spanish).
Soames provides long, detailed, and sometimes
very technical criticisms of Richard's theory,
but he seemingly places considerable weight
on a simple, non-technical objection. On
Richard's theory, speakers use 'that'-clauses
of belief ascriptions to translate the language
and mental representations of the believers
whom they are describing. Thus, on Richard's
theory, when speakers use belief ascriptions,
they think about, and intend to express propositions
about, the language and mental representations
of believers. But Soames thinks that ordinary
speakers rarely think about believers' language
and mental representations, and almost never
intend to use belief ascriptions to express
information about these matters.
Soames next attempts to explain away ordinary
judgments that (5) and (6) can differ in
truth value. Soames maintains that the simple
sentences embedded in (5) and (6), namely
sentences (1) and (2), have the same semantic
content; thus (5) and (6) have the same semantic
content. But (1) and (2) can be used to assert
descriptive propositions. Consequently, a
speaker can use (5) to assert that Edward
believes one of the descriptive propositions
that an utterance of (1) can be used to assert.
For instance, an utterance of (5) can be
used to assert the semantic content of (7)
below, though (5) does not have the same
semantic content as (7).
7. Edward believes that the philosopher of
science, Carl Hempel, lived on Lake Lane
in Princeton.
Similarly, (6) can be used to assert the
semantic content of (8), and thus to ascribe
to Edward belief in a different descriptive
proposition.
8. Edward believes that the elderly gentleman
of his acquaintance, Peter Hempel, lived
on Lake Lane in Princeton.
The semantic contents of (7) and (8) are
distinct propositions that really can differ
in truth value. Ordinary speakers do not
clearly distinguish between the semantic
content of (5) and (6) and the propositions
that those sentences can be used to assert.
Thus they may mistakenly think that (5) and
(6) themselves differ in meaning, and that
they can differ in truth value.
Soames next turns to natural kind terms.
Kripke claimed that natural kind terms are
rigid designators. Soames points out that
this claim is much more problematic than
many of Kripke's readers realize. Natural
kind terms (Soames argues) often function
as predicates, even in the examples of theoretical
identities that Kripke discusses, such as
'Tigers are mammals'. Yet it is unclear what
it means for a predicate to be a rigid designator-certainly
Kripke never defines the notion of rigidity
for predicates. Soames dispenses with several
different possible definitions of rigid designation
for predicates and concludes that there is
no useful notion to be found. He hypothesizes
that, when Kripke claimed that kind terms
are rigid, he primarily had in mind the (correct)
claim that they are non-descriptive. Soames
argues that the necessity of Kripkean theoretical
identities are a consequence of (i) their
non-descriptionality and (ii) the semantic
presuppositions of persons who introduce
and use the terms. Soames suggests that kinds
are intensions (functions from possible worlds
to extensions). The semantic content of a
simple kind term, like 'water', is the kind
itself, which is also what the term designates.
The semantic content of a semantically complex
kind term, like 'H2O', is a property that
determines the kind (the intension) that
the term designates. Thus, even though the
predicates 'water' and 'H2O' designate the
same kind, they have different semantic contents,
and so the sentence 'Water is H2O' can semantically
express a proposition that is both necessary
and knowable only a posteriori. Soames concludes
his book with a refutation of an argument
by Mark Johnston against the identity of
water with H2O.
2. Some Criticisms
The above summary hardly begins to describe
the wealth of material contained in this
rich book. Nevertheless, I shall now turn
to a couple of critical points concerning
Soames's claims about proper names. My first
comment will consider Soames's view that
some simple proper names might be partially
descriptive. My second comment will consider
whether Soames can defend his Millian-Russellian
theory from a certain well-known, traditional
objection.
As I mentioned above, Soames argues that
simple proper names are not analyzable as
partially descriptive names whose semantic
contents include contingent properties of
their referents. However, he leaves open
the possibility that the semantic content
of a name might include some very general
property that is essential to the referent.
For instance, he leaves open the possibility
that the semantic content of 'Carl Hempel'
is (roughly) the same as that of 'the thing
that is sentient and is identical with z',
under an assignment of Hempel to the variable
'z'. I believe that he should reject this
possibility, because a competent speaker
who is horribly misinformed about Carl Hempel's
properties may still use the name to assert
singular propositions about him.
Suppose that Alice keeps oysters as pets.
She gives them first and last names that
are phonologically like standard human names,
and frequently talks about her oysters with
her friends. Suppose that Betty knows all
of this about Alice. Suppose further that
Betty has never heard of Carl Hempel, but
that Carl Hempel is one of Alice's neighbors.
Suppose that Alice utters 'Carl Hempel is
ill' during a conversation with her friends
about her neighbor. As Betty walks by, she
overhears Alice's remark, but not the surrounding
conversation, and assumes that Alice is (yet
again) speaking of her pet oysters. Betty
then assertively utters (9).
9. Carl Hempel is one of Alice's pet oysters.
In doing so, Betty intends to use 'Carl Hempel'
to refer to the same object that Alice does
when she uses 'Carl Hempel'. Thus, Betty
asserts a false proposition about Carl Hempel.
If Betty is convinced that oysters are not
sentient, then, when she utters (9), she
does not assert that thesentient being, Carl
Hempel, is one of Alice's pet oysters. Thus
not every utterance of a sentence containing
'Carl Hempel' by a competent speaker is used
to assert or convey a proposition that ascribes
sentience to Hempel. Therefore, by the Soamesian
principles mentioned earlier, the semantic
content of 'Carl Hempel' does not include
the property of being sentient. (A somewhat
different example, leading to the same conclusion,
could be constructed around a philosophical
speaker who believes that Carl Hempel is
human, but also believes that no human is
sentient.)
The above example is like several that Soames
considers (p. 64), and is a simple variant
on some of Kripke's examples in Naming and
Necessity (p. 115 n. 58). Why, then, does
Soames leave open the possibility that the
content of 'Carl Hempel' includes the property
of being sentient? Perhaps he is being cautious.
More likely, Soames thinks that examples
like these do not support the conclusion
that I draw. He might claim that Betty does
not assert a singular proposition about Hempel
when she utters (9). But notice that if Alice
hears Betty's utterance of (9), Alice can
correctly say, 'No, that's false, Carl Hempel
is my human neighbor'. Perhaps Soames thinks
that a speaker like Betty is not competent
with the name 'Carl Hempel', and so her utterances
are irrelevant to determining the semantic
content of (9). But the view about competence
that Soames most often favors in his book
implies that Betty is competent with the
name if (i) she intends to use the name to
refer to the same thing as did the person
from whom she picked up the name, and (ii)
she realizes that to utter (9) is to say,
of Carl Hempel, that he is one of Alice's
pet oysters. Betty satisfies these conditions.
Soames sometimes considers strengthening
these conditions to include the requirement
that a competent speaker associate the right
sortal property with the name (p. 105, note
2). I believe that these strengthened competence
conditions are too strong. More importantly,
I think we should reject the claim that an
utterance helps determine the semantic content
of a sentence only if it is produced by a
speaker who satisfies these stronger competence
conditions. Speakers who satisfy the earlier,
weaker conditions for competence, like Betty,
can use sentences containing the name to
assert singular propositions. Thus it's reasonable
to think that the assertions of such weakly
competent speakers are as important to determining
the semantic content of (9) as are the assertions
of speakers who satisfy the stronger competence
conditions. Moreover, the notion of semantic
content one gets by retaining the weaker
competence conditions is at least as important,
and at least as central, to semantic theory
as the notion of semantic content one gets
by switching to the stronger competence conditions.
I turn now to considering whether Soames
can defend his Millian-Russellian theory
from traditional objections. I think that
Soames's reply to the earlier objection,
concerning ordinary speakers' judgments about
meaning, is adequate. But there is another
well-known objection to Soames's Millian-Russellian
theory that he does not address, and which
(I believe) he does not present the means
to answer in his book. The objection concerns
speakers who understand both (3) and (4),
but think that (4) is true and (3) is false.
3. Peter Hempel was Carl Hempel.
4. Carl Hempel was Carl Hempel.
On Soames's view, the semantic contents of
these sentences are the same. So, it seems,
someone who understands (4), and thinks that
(4) is true, actually believes the semantic
content of (3). Thus, if such a person understands
(3), then she should believe that (3) is
true. So how, on Soames's theory, could such
a person think that (3) is false? Let's consider
a more explicit version of the objection.
Let Jill be a rational, competent speaker
who understands (3) and (4), and thinks that
(3) is false and (4) is true. Let 'MR' refer
to Soames's Millian-Russellian theory and
let the phrase 'the proposition that S semantically
expresses' mean the same as 'the semantic
content of S'.
10. a. Jill is a rational, competent speaker
who understands (4) and believes that (4)
is true.
b. If Jill is a rational, competent speaker
who understands (4) and believes that (4)
is true, then she believes the proposition
that (4) semantically expresses.
c. Therefore, Jill believes the proposition
that (4) semantically expresses. [from a,
b]
d. If MR is true, then (3) and (4) semantically
express the same proposition.
e. Therefore, if MR is true, then Jill believes
the proposition that (3) semantically expresses.
[from c, d]
f. Jill is a rational, competent speaker
who understands (3).
g. If Jill is a rational, competent speaker
who understands (3), and she believes the
proposition that (3) semantically expresses,
then she believes that (3) is true.
h. Therefore, if MR is true, then Jill believes
that (3) is true. [from e, f, g]
i. Jill does not believe that (3) is true.
j. Therefore, MR is not true. [from h, i]
Notice that this objection does not make
any claim about ordinary speakers' judgments
about sameness of meaning. It appeals merely
to Jill's judgments about truth value. Thus
Soames's reply to the earlier objection from
ordinary speakers' judgments about meaning
is not directly applicable to argument (10).
I believe that an advocate of the Millian-Russellian
theory has little choice but to deny (10g):
he must say that Jill is a rational, competent
speaker who understands (3) and believes
the proposition that (3) semantically expresses,
but she (nevertheless) does not think that
(3) is true. The main problem for the defender
of Millian-Russellianism is to explain how
Jill could be in such a state. If such a
theorist restricts himself to the resources
that Soames provides in this book, then (it
seems) he would have to attribute Jill's
mistake to some kind of confusion between
semantic content and asserted/conveyed propositions.
The best reply along these lines that I can
think of goes as follows. Jill believes that
(3) is false because she confuses the singular,
Russellian proposition that (3) semantically
expresses with the various descriptive propositions
that she could use (3) to assert and convey,
or that would be conveyed to her by assertive
utterances of (3), for instance, the proposition
semantically expressed by (11).
11. The elderly gentleman who lived in Princeton,
Peter Hempel, was the philosopher of science,
Carl Hempel.
Jill fails to believe these descriptive propositions.
In fact, she believes the negations of these
descriptive propositions. That is why she
thinks that (3) is false.
This is the strongest reply to argument (10)
that I can think of, when I restrict myself
to the notions that Soames mentions in his
book. (As I said, Soames himself does not
consider this objection.) But I see at least
two problems with it. The first problem arises
if Jill is an expert in semantics. (The objection
that follows is similar to one that Salmon
[1986] presents against a related theory.)
Suppose that Jill has been rigorously trained
in Soamesian semantics, and that she, like
Soames, always distinguishes carefully between
the singular, Russellian semantic content
of (3) and the descriptive propositions that
it can be used to assert and convey. Nevertheless,
even experts in semantics can think that
a true identity sentence is false, and so
Jill could still believe that (3) is false.
But then Jill's belief that (3) is false
could not be explained by her confusion between
semantic content and asserted propositions.
The second problem is that, on Soames's theory,
the descriptive propositions that Jill might
use (3) to assert, such as the proposition
semantically expressed by (11), may follow
trivially from other propositions that Jill
believes. Thus, if Jill is given suitable
reminders, it's difficult to see how she
could avoid believing these descriptive propositions.
To see this, let's suppose (for simplicity)
that the only descriptive proposition that
Jill would assert and convey with (3), and
the only descriptive proposition that an
utterance of (3) would convey to her, is
the proposition semantically expressed by
(11). Let's also suppose that Jill would
assent to (12), and so believes the proposition
semantically expressed by (12): that is why
she thinks that she could use (3) to assert
the proposition expressed by (11), and why
an assertive utterance of (3) might convey
this proposition to her.
12. Carl Hempel was the philosopher of science,
Carl Hempel.
But, on Soames's theory, if she believes
the proposition semantically expressed by
(12), then she also believes the proposition
expressed by (13), for "they" are
one and the same proposition.
13. Peter Hempel was the philosopher of science,
Carl Hempel.
Similarly, suppose Jill would assent to (14),
and believes the proposition that it expresses,
and so believes the proposition expressed
by (15).
14. Peter Hempel was the elderly gentleman
who lived in Princeton, Peter Hempel.
15. Carl Hempel was the elderly gentleman
who lived in Princeton, Peter Hempel.
Sentence (11) follows directly, and trivially,
from sentences (12) and (15). Moreover, theproposition
semantically expressed by (11) also follows
directly, and trivially, from thepropositions
semantically expressed by (12) and (15).
But Jill believes the propositions semantically
expressed by (12) and (15). Therefore, Soames's
theory strongly suggests that, if Jill thinks
a bit, she is very likely to come to believe
the proposition semantically expressed by
(11). To help her make the inference, we
could remind her of these propositions, by
displaying sentences (12), (15), and (11),
and asking her to consider whether sentences
(12) and (15) entail sentence (11). Thus,
on Soames's theory, it seems that Jill really
should believe the proposition semantically
expressed by (11), at least after being given
suitable reminders.
Yet, clearly, Jill could continue to think
that (3) is false, despite her belief in
the propositions expressed by (12) and (14),
and despite the above sort of reminding and
coaching. But if she continues to think that
(3) is false, then the Soamesian reply to
argument (10) requires that Jill not believe
the descriptive proposition semantically
expressed by (11). In fact, the reply requires
that Jill believe the negation of this descriptive
proposition. But how could Jill fail to believe
the proposition semantically expressed by
(11), under the above conditions? How, on
Soames's theory, could she fail to infer
it from the propositions expressed by (12)
and (14), which she already believes? The
above reply does not answer these questions.
I conclude that it is either incorrect or
incomplete. Yet, as I mentioned earlier,
this is the best reply to argument
(10) that I can think of, when I restrict
myself to the resources that Soames provides
in this book.
Advocates of the Millian-Russellian theory
can avail themselves of a more powerful reply
to the argument, but to do so they must accept
certain views that Soames does not mention
in the present book. This more powerful reply
begins with the idea that the belief relation
between agents and propositions is mediated
by a third entity, such as a sentence, mental
state, or mental representation. On this
view, an agent believes a proposition by
accepting a sentence, or by being in a certain
sort of mental state, or by having a mental
representation function in her mind in a
certain way. These mediators are propositional
guises or ways of taking propositions. A
Millian-Russellian who accepts this idea
might respond to argument (10) along the
following lines. A rational agent can believe
the singular Russellian proposition that
Hempel is Hempel in various ways, for instance,
by accepting either sentence (3) or (4),
or by having corresponding mental representations
function in her mind in a belief-like way.
For convenience, let's assume that propositional
guises are mental representations and that
mental representations are just sentences
of English. Then a rational person, like
Jill, could believe the singular proposition
that Hempel is Hempel by having either (3)
or (4) functioning in her mind in the right
way--for short, by having either one in her
belief box. She could, however, have (4)
but not (3) in her belief box, for there
is no syntactic way to derive the one sentence
from the other. In fact, Jill could have
(4) and the negation of (3) in her belief
box, for there is no syntactic inconsistency
between them. If Jill were in this condition,
then she would think that sentence (4) is
true and sentence
(3) is false. Thus, this reply says that
premise (10g) is false. Jill believes the
proposition semantically expressed by (3),
but only in a "(4)-ish" way. She
also believes the negation of the proposition
semantically expressed by (3), in a "not-(3)-ish"
way, and that's why thinks that (3) is false.
Call this the Propositional Guise Reply.
Soames himself endorsed something like the
Propositional Guise Reply in his earlier
work (see Soames [1988]). The existence of
propositional guises is consistent with the
views that Soames expresses in the present
book. Indeed, propositional guises could
be used to explain why Jill fails to believe
the proposition expressed by (11), though
she believes the propositions expressed by
(12) and (14). Yet Soames never mentions
propositional guises in this book. Why not?
My best guess is that Soames thinks that
his distinction between semantic content
and asserted propositions will, by itself,
enable him to deal with all traditional objections
to his Millian-Russellian theory. I am dubious.
However, I have no doubt that Soames has
written an excellent book that contains a
wealth of interesting and insightful material,
including a strong case in favor of his Millian-Russellian
theory. His book should be mandatory reading
for all advocates and critics of Millianism,
and for all semanticists interested in proper
names, attitude ascriptions, and kind terms.
I strongly recommend it. (1)
Bibliography
Kripke, Saul. 1980. Naming and Necessity.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Salmon, Nathan. 1986. Frege's Puzzle. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press.
Soames, Scott. 1988. "Direct Reference,
Propositional Attitudes, and Semantic Content."
In Nathan Salmon and Scott Soames (eds.),
Propositions and Attitudes, pp.
197-239. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
David Braun
Department of Philosophy
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0078
E-mail: david.braun@rochester.edu
Notes
1. Many thanks to Greg Carlson, Jeffrey King,
and Jennifer Saul for very helpful comments.
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