Mill on Meaning

1
Mill on Meaning
2
Mills View

• Apparent psychologism
• What do Names do?
• Names stand for ideas but more than this better
  to say stand for things rather than for ideas.

3
Names and other words

• Some words only parts of Names.
• But adjectives are OK
• Suppositio materialis
• so Names roughly nouns, verbs, adjectives
• syncategorematic

4
On Names

• Test for number of Names.
• "All names are names of something, real or
  imaginary"
• General versus individual Names
• Individual names have no sense
• General versus collective

5
Connotative Names

• Concrete versus abstract abstract name of
  attribute
• A non-connotative term is one which signifies a
  subject only, or an attribute only. A connotative
  term is one which denotes a subject, and implies
  an attribute.
• John whiteness man, white
• The word white, denotes all white things, as
  snow, paper, but when we predicate it of them,
  we convey the meaning that the attribute
  whiteness belongs to them.

6
Connotation/denotation

• Concrete general Names connotative
• Proper names not connotative
• There are individual connotative Names
  definite descriptions
• Proper names like a sign
• Learn proper names from denotation often learn
  part of the denotation of general term before
  grasping connotation

7
Imprecision

• Many words used loosely. Indeterminacy not
  ambiguity
• Mills sense of connotation differs from
  ordinary sense

8
Lycan

• Millian names
• Rigidity
• Some non-Millian names rigid
• Direct reference theories of names modern
  Millians

9
Puzzles for all theories of names

• Names of non-existents
• What is an imaginary being?
• Negative existentials
• Special case of preceding
• Freges puzzle about identity
• Baghdad is San Francisco more informative
  than Hesperus is Hesperus

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Puzzles continued

• Referential opacity
• Cant substitute co-referring terms in many
  contexts John believes Clinton denounced
  George versus John believes Bill denounced
  George
• Not obvious that a Millian story can be given to
  solve these puzzles.

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Causal-historical theories of reference

• How name tied to bearer? Dubbing plus complex
  chains of borrowed reference
• Can deal with empty names
• Multiple groundings names can change bearers
• Mis-identification and the qua-problem lead to a
  less pure story

12
Natural kind terms

• Meaning not connotation/nominal essence but
  Lockes real essence that, we may know not
  what, which accounts for what we observe.
• Twin Earth. Meaning aint in the head