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A Strawsonian Objection to Russell’s Theory of Descriptions
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 15:13 authored by Murali RamachandranOne of Strawson's objections to Russell's theory of descriptions (RTD) is that what are intuitively natural and correct (i.e., true) utterances of sentences involving incomplete (definite) descriptions come out false by RTD. Russellians have responded, not by challenging Strawson's view that these uses are natural and correct, but by embellishing RTD to accommodate these uses. I pursue an alternative line of attack: I argue that there are (hypothetical) circumstances in which "we" would find utterances of such sentences unnatural and improper but "RTD" (embellished or not) would sanction. So, RTD clashes with ordinary language, as Strawson suggests.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
AnalysisISSN
00032638Publisher
Oxford University PressPublisher URL
External DOI
Issue
4Volume
53Page range
209-212Department affiliated with
- Philosophy Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes