Intentional identity and descriptions

• Autores: William Lanier
• Localización: Philosophical Studies, ISSN-e 1573-0883, Vol. 170, Nº. 2, 2014, págs. 289-302
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • What is the semantic contribution of anaphoric links in sentences like, �A physicist was late to the party. He brought some bongos�? A natural first thought is that the passage entails a wide-scope existential claim that there is something that both (i) was late to the party and (ii) brought some bongos. Intentional identity sentences are counter-examples to this natural thought applied to anaphora in general. Some have tried to rescue the thought and accommodate the counter-examples by positing mythical objects. I present a new intentional identity sentence that cannot be so accommodated. I then propose a new account of intentional identity and other anaphoric sentences that does not appeal to mythical objects, but instead draws on traditional accounts of definite descriptions.