On Referring
E100614
"On Referring" is a seminal 1950 philosophical paper by P. F. Strawson that critiques Bertrand Russell’s theory of descriptions and reshapes debates about reference and meaning in analytic philosophy.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| On Referring canonical | 1 |
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
academic article
ⓘ
philosophical paper ⓘ |
| argues |
that definite descriptions can be used without successfully referring
ⓘ
that referring is an act performed by speakers rather than a property of expressions ⓘ that sentences with failed reference may lack truth value ⓘ |
| associatedWithConcept |
semantic presupposition
ⓘ
speaker reference ⓘ use–mention distinction ⓘ |
| author | P. F. Strawson ⓘ |
| centralDebate |
distinction between sentence meaning and speaker meaning
ⓘ
truth-value of sentences with non-referring expressions ⓘ whether definite descriptions are referring expressions ⓘ |
| citedAs |
On Sense and Reference
ⓘ
surface form:
On Referring (Mind, 1950)
|
| contrastsWith | Russell's quantificational analysis of descriptions ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| criticizes | identification of meaning with reference ⓘ |
| critiquesTheory | Russell's theory of descriptions ⓘ |
| critiquesWorkOf | Bertrand Russell ⓘ |
| describedAs |
classic of analytic philosophy
ⓘ
seminal paper in philosophy of language ⓘ |
| emphasizes | importance of ordinary language in analyzing reference ⓘ |
| field |
analytic philosophy
ⓘ
philosophy of language ⓘ |
| frequentlyAnthologizedIn | collections on reference and meaning ⓘ |
| hasCanonicalStatusIn | philosophy of language curricula ⓘ |
| hasNotableReception | widely discussed and criticized in 20th-century analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| historicalContext | post-war analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| influenced |
debates about reference in analytic philosophy
ⓘ
subsequent work on definite descriptions ⓘ theory of presupposition ⓘ |
| influencedPhilosopher |
H. P. Grice
ⓘ
Keith Donnellan ⓘ Peter F. Strawson himself in later work ⓘ Saul Kripke ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
definite descriptions
ⓘ
meaning ⓘ ordinary language ⓘ presupposition ⓘ reference ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | ordinary language philosophy ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1950 ⓘ |
| publishedIn | Mind ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics
ⓘ
Introduction to Logical Theory ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.