Our words and ideas refer to objects and properties in the external world; this phenomenon is central to thought, language, communication, and science. But great works of fiction are full of names that don't seem to refer to anything! In this book Kenneth A. Taylor explores the myriad of problems that surround the phenomenon of reference. How can words in language and perturbations in our brains come to stand for external objects? Reference is essential to truth, but which is more basic: reference or truth? How can fictional characters play such an important role in imagination and literature, and how does this use of language connect with more mundane uses?
Taylor develops a framework for understanding reference, and the theories that other thinkers-past and present-have developed about it. But Taylor doesn't simply tell us what others thought; the book is full of new ideas and analyses, making for a vital final contribution from a seminal philosopher.
This book is a contribution to ongoing debates in the philosophy of language about reference and truth. The ideas discussed have been important not only in philosophy but in logic, linguistics, psychology, computer science and other areas concerned with thought and communication. Taylor was an important philosopher and led Stanford's influential Symbolic Systems Program, graduates of which are leaders in Silicon Valley. The book is not elementary, but it presents rich and subtle products of his years of thought on important topics with many examples and clear discussions.
The analyses are strikingly well written
