# name
Names, descriptions and causal descriptions. Is the magic gone?

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Some of the fundamental lessons of the so-called revolution against descriptivism that occurred in the 70s are negative and it is not immediately apparent what kind of semantic theory should emerge as regards proper names, the alleged paradigms of genuinely referential terms. Some of the claims about names, most notably Ruth Barcan Marcus' characterization of names as tags, appear to be too picturesque to provide the basis for a positive theory and, without a theory, it would seem that the referential link between name and bearer is established by pure magic. Some authors have appealed to the causal-historical picture to construct a positive theory, and have endorsed causal descriptivism, a variety of descriptivism that incorporates causal factors. I argue against causal descriptivism and I assess the demand for a positive semantic theory of names.

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Topoi. An International Review of Philosophy , 2020, vol. 39, num. 2, p. 357-365

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(c) Springer Science + Business Media, 2020

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Articles publicats en revistes (Filosofia)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Names, descriptions and causal descriptions. Is the magic gone?