Evans’s Theory of Names

• Main Authors: Chun-hsien Cheng, 鄭俊憲
• Other Authors: Chien-kuo Mi
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/32957266355724551285

碩士 === 東吳大學 === 哲學系 === 97 === It is common for us to use proper names when we use language in our daily life. Generally, people think that we use proper names to refer to objects. But the story is not so simple. If we reflect more deeply, we will find that there are many problems when we try to give an account of proper names. There are many questions which are concerned with proper names. I will not and cannot discuss all of them in this paper. I will focus on one of them: what is the meaning of proper names? I think this question is a key question, and is also a question which will help us better understand the usage of proper names. Proper names have already raised many questions and led to many philosophical debates; this paper will not (and cannot) discuss all of these. As men-tioned in the title, this paper will focus on the views of Gareth Evans. This paper will sketch the historical context of discussion of proper names, and discuss the views of Saul Kripke, and then through Kripke’s views enter into a discussion of Evans’ views. The reason for using this approach is quite simple: Evans’ own views contain discus-sion and criticism of the views of Kripke. Additionally, since Kripke’s views hold a significant place in the history of proper names, I feel that they can provide a useful approach to enter into discussion of Evans’ views. Thus the first chapter will describe Kripke’s views, and the second and third will be concerned with the main topic - Ev-ans’ own views. The fourth chapter will discuss J.E.J. Altham’s discussion of Evans. In the conclusion, I will attempt to show that Evans’ views on the meaning of proper names are opposed to those of Kripke’s.