Situations and Individuals

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In Situations and Individuals, Paul Elbourne argues that the natural language expressions that have been taken to refer to individuals-pronouns, proper names, and definite descriptions-have a common syntax and semantics, roughly that of definite descriptions as construed in the tradition of Frege. In the course of his argument, Elbourne shows that proper names have previously undetected donkey anaphoric readings. This is contrary to previous theorizing and, if true, would undermine what philosophers call the ...
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Overview

In Situations and Individuals, Paul Elbourne argues that the natural language expressions that have been taken to refer to individuals-pronouns, proper names, and definite descriptions-have a common syntax and semantics, roughly that of definite descriptions as construed in the tradition of Frege. In the course of his argument, Elbourne shows that proper names have previously undetected donkey anaphoric readings. This is contrary to previous theorizing and, if true, would undermine what philosophers call the direct reference theory (which holds that the sole contribution of a proper name to the truth conditions of a sentence is an individual) as well as the related doctrine that proper names are rigid designators.

Elbourne begins by addressing donkey anaphora, relating other concerns about pronouns to the solution of this notorious problem. His subsequent argumentation provides a unified semantics for the donkey anaphoric and bound and referential uses of pronouns and discusses the prospect of unifying the syntax and semantics of pronouns with the syntax and semantics of normal definite descriptions. Elbourne's aim is not only to advance his proposal of a unified syntax and semantics but also to urge linguists and philosophers dealing with pronoun interpretation to consider a wider range of theories than they do at present, and to test the competing claims of description-based theories and dynamic semantics against the data.

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What People Are Saying

From the Publisher
"A sparkling contribution to the linguistic and philosophical literature on anaphora and descriptions. Original, thorough, well-presented, and immensely thought-provoking — in short,required reading."—Stephen Neale, Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University

"Jefffrey C. King argues, in meticulous and scrupulous style, for the unorthodox thesis that complex phrases such as 'that book' are not pure referential devices, but have a unified, quantificational semantics. Complex Demonstratives is an exemplary scholarly production,going to the heart of inquiry linking the formal properties of human language to more general issues of human thought and communication."—James Higginbotham, Linda Hilf Chair in Philosophy and Professor of Linguistics, University of Southern California

" Situations and Individuals takes on an ambitious task: to present a unified analysis of proper names and all kinds of pronouns. Subtle linguistic facts are brought to bear on old and new debates in linguistics and philosophy. Elbourne"s book combines the best of both disciplines." Angelika Kratzer , Professor of Linguistics,University of Massachusetts Amherst

"*The Syntax of (In)dependence* is an extraordinarily careful and thoroughly argued view of pronominal anaphora, attentive to all of the major lines of research over the past 35 years or so. The author is scrupulous about the data, and equally scrupulous in his discussions and criticisms of these approaches. Work at this level of both detail and theory is valuable and rare,and crucial for further progress in the subject."—James Higginbotham, Linda Hilf Chair in Philosophy and Professor of Linguistics, University of Southern California

"*Situations and Individuals* takes on an ambitious task: to present a unified analysis of proper names and all kinds of pronouns. Subtle linguistic facts are brought to bear on old and new debates in linguistics and philosophy. Elbourne's book combines the best of both disciplines."—Angelika Kratzer, Professor of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Product Details

Meet the Author

Paul Elbourne is a Lecturer in Linguistics at Queen Mary, University of London.
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Table of Contents

Preface xi
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Overview of the Book 1
1.2 Accounting for Covariation 3
1.3 The Description-Theoretic Approach 5
1.4 Dynamic Theories 12
1.5 A Variable-Free Theory of Donkey Anaphora 34
1.6 Conclusion 39
Chapter 2 D-Type Pronouns 41
2.1 Introduction 41
2.2 Semantics 48
2.3 The Truth Conditions of Donkey Sentences 51
2.4 The Problem of the Formal Link 64
2.5 Donkey Sentences and Strict/Sloppy Identity 68
2.6 The Other Uses for D-Type Pronouns 79
2.7 Some Objections 83
2.8 Conclusion 91
Chapter 3 On the Semantics of Pronouns and Definite Articles 93
3.1 Introduction 93
3.2 Bound and Referential Pronouns 93
3.3 The Semantics of the Definite Article 98
3.4 Pronoun Plus Relative Clause 120
3.5 Pronouns Revisited 122
3.6 Conclusion 135
Chapter 4 Indistinguishable Participants 137
4.1 The Nature of the Problem 137
4.2 Previous D-Type Solutions 138
4.3 The Problem of Coordinate Subjects 145
4.4 A New D-Type Solution 146
4.5 Conclusion 156
Chapter 5 Japanese kare and kanozyo 159
5.1 Introduction 159
5.2 The Basic Data 159
5.3 Previous Accounts 161
5.4 A New Account 163
5.5 Consequences for Other Theories 165
5.6 A Residual Problem 166
5.7 Conclusion 168
Chapter 6 Proper Names 169
6.1 Introduction 169
6.2 Kripke's Objections to Descriptive Theories 173
6.3 Further Evidence in Favor of Burge's Theory 178
6.4 Conclusion 184
Chapter 7 Conclusion 185
7.1 Expressions of Type e 185
7.2 Accounting for Donkey Anaphora 185
7.3 Situations 186
Appendix A DPL Calculations 189
A.1 A Conditional Donkey Sentence in DPL 189
A.2 A Relative-Clause Donkey Sentence in DPL 190
Appendix B Situation Semantics Calculations 193
B.1 A Conditional Donkey Sentence 193
B.2 A Relative-Clause Donkey Sentence 196
Notes 201
References 221
Index 231
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