The Other Francis Bacon: On Non-bare Proper Names

Ora Matushansky (1)

1 SFL - Structures Formelles du Langage

In this paper I provide novel arguments for the predicative approach to proper names, which claims that argument proper names are definite descriptions containing a naming predicate (the individual called X). I first argue that modified proper names, such as the incomparable Maria Callas or the other Francis Bacon cannot be handled on the hypothesis that argument proper names have no internal structure and uniformly denote entities. I then discuss cases like every Adolf, which would normally be interpreted as every individual named Adolf and show that the predicative approach to proper names can straightforwardly account for the distribution of a detectable naming component in proper names. Finally, I address the issue of proper names used as common nouns (such as a Rembrandt or the new Madonna) and plural proper names (e.g., the Beatles) and demonstrate that they do not form a homogenous group yet can be clearly distinguished on both syntactic and semantic grounds from proper names involving a detectable naming component.

Mots clés: proper names; direct reference; definite descriptions; predication; naming

Domaines: Linguistique; Philosophie

Ora Matushansky. The Other Francis Bacon: On Non-bare Proper Names. Erkenntnis, 2015, pp.28. ⟨10.1007/s10670-014-9703-0⟩. ⟨halshs-01100449⟩