Discussion Note: Definiteness and Proper Names: Some Bad News for the Description Theory
Ben A. Abbott · Journal of Semantics · 2002
This paper addresses some data put forward by Geurts (1997) in support of his metalinguistic or quotation theory of proper names, according to which a name N means ‘the individual named N’. The data illustrate ten linguistic behaviours claimed to be shared by proper names and definite descriptions. I argue that in some cases the behaviours have a common explanation which is based on a property independent of Geurts' analysis, and that in the remaining cases the behaviours are not actually shared. Thus these behaviours do not actually support the metalinguistic theory.