Russell's Theory of Descriptions and Its Critics
The introduction to the "theory of descriptions" was written by Bertrand Russell in an article titled "On Denoting" in 1905 and is one of the most studied chapters in analytic philosophy. It is said, "...the choice of whether to accept or reject Russell 's theory has had profound consequences for our philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics."
One of Russell 's motivations for developing the "theory of descriptions" was his abandonment of his "theory of denoting concepts," which is simply put as "the way of accommodating indirect aboutness." The "theory of denoting concepts" works such that where you are given a definite or indefinite description inside of a sentence, the sentence is made to state not the objects that it corresponds to, but instead, states a concept which contains those objects. Russell devoted a large amount of time trying to work out the details of this theory. The point where Russell changed direction from his "theory of denoting concepts" to his "theory of descriptions," was when he started to accept the views of the Meinongian argument. It was not until later when Russell realized in the years between the "theory of denoting concepts" and his discovery of "the theory of descriptions" that he did not fully commit to the Meinongian argument and that there were reasons he should not believe in it at all. We see this to be true in Russell 's work, My Philosophical Development, when he admits that before his discovery of the theory of descriptions, Meinong had him convinced that if a person were to say that something such as unicorn did not exist that it ultimately had to exist in some realm or else your statement would be absolutely meaningless.
Hylton 's text explains that despite the accusations delivered to Russell about adopting the "theory of descriptions" merely to avoid the Meinongian argument, there are four other reasons that may better serve to explain Russell 's intentions.
Russell explained, "the theory of
One of Russell 's motivations for developing the "theory of descriptions" was his abandonment of his "theory of denoting concepts," which is simply put as "the way of accommodating indirect aboutness." The "theory of denoting concepts" works such that where you are given a definite or indefinite description inside of a sentence, the sentence is made to state not the objects that it corresponds to, but instead, states a concept which contains those objects. Russell devoted a large amount of time trying to work out the details of this theory. The point where Russell changed direction from his "theory of denoting concepts" to his "theory of descriptions," was when he started to accept the views of the Meinongian argument. It was not until later when Russell realized in the years between the "theory of denoting concepts" and his discovery of "the theory of descriptions" that he did not fully commit to the Meinongian argument and that there were reasons he should not believe in it at all. We see this to be true in Russell 's work, My Philosophical Development, when he admits that before his discovery of the theory of descriptions, Meinong had him convinced that if a person were to say that something such as unicorn did not exist that it ultimately had to exist in some realm or else your statement would be absolutely meaningless.
Hylton 's text explains that despite the accusations delivered to Russell about adopting the "theory of descriptions" merely to avoid the Meinongian argument, there are four other reasons that may better serve to explain Russell 's intentions.
Russell explained, "the theory of
Bibliography: Hylton, Peter. "The Theory Of Descriptions." The Cambridge Companion To Bertrand Russell. Ed. Nicholas Griffin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2003. Lycan, William. Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction. London: Routledge, 1999. Russell, Bertrand. The Problems Of Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press. 1997. "Descriptions" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2005.