Terms and Truth: Reference Direct and Anaphoric

In this book, Alan Berger further develops the new theory of reference -- asformulated by Kripke and Putnam -- applying it in novel ways to many philosophical problemsconcerning reference and existence. Berger argues that his notion of anaphoric background conditionand anaphoric links within a linguistic community are crucial not only to a theory of reference, butto the analysis of these problems as well.

The book is organized in three parts.In part I, Berger distinguishes between two styles of rigid designation. Based on this distinction,he develops a theory of reference change for rigid designator terms and shows how this distinctionsheds light on identity statements. In part II, he offers an account of belief attributioncontaining vacuous names within the belief context, of intentional identity statements, and of truenegative existential statements. In part III, he analyzes anaphoric expressions (i.e., expressionswhose reference is determined in part by other clauses or sentences in a given discourse) andpresents a formalization of anaphora and plural quantification.

Alan Berger is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University.

Alan Berger is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University.