18-19 May 2015
Budapest, Hungary
Proper Names Workshop Current Work in Linguistics and Philosophy of Language Workshop at CEU IAS, Budapest May 18-19, 2015 1051 Budapest, Október 6. u. 7. / Room 101 Sponsors: Institute for Advanced Study, CEU Department of Logic, Institute of Philosophy, Eötvös University (ELTE) Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest Organizers: Craige Roberts, CEU IAS, Hungary; Linguistics and Philosophy, The Ohio State University, USA Zsófia Zvolenszky, Philosophy, Eötvös University (ELTE), Hungary Speakers: David Braun, Philosophy, University at Buffalo, SUNY, USA Delia Graff Fara, Philosophy, Princeton University, USA Emar Maier, Linguistics and Philosophy, University of Groningen, Netherlands Ora Matushansky, Linguistics, SFL (Université Paris VIII/CNRS), France; Utrecht University/UiL OTS, Netherlands Anders Schoubye, Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, UK Zsófia Zvolenszky, Philosophy, Eötvös University (ELTE), Hungary Discussants: Hanoch Ben-Yami, Philosophy, Central European University, Hungary Laura Delgado, Philosophy, University of Barcelona/LOGOS Spain Hans-Martin Gärtner, Linguistics, Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungary Aidan Gray, Philosophy, University of Illinois Chicago Circle, USA Brendan Balcerak Jackson, Philosophy, Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz, Germany Robin Jeshion, Philosophy, University of Southern California, USA Hans Kamp, Philosophy and Linguistics, Institute for Natural Language Processing, University of Stuttgart, Germany Karen Lewis, Philosophy, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA Eliot Michaelson, Philosophy, King's College, UK Matthew Moss, Philosophy, Columbia University, USA Hazel Pearson, Linguistics, Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft Berlin, Germany Jessica Pepp, Philosophy, University of Oslo, Center for the Study of Mind in Nature, Norway David Pitt, Philosophy, California State University at Los Angeles, USA Brian Rabern, Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, UK Craige Roberts, Linguistics, CEU/IAS, Hungary; The Ohio State University, USA Paolo Santorio, Philosophy, University of Leeds, UK Workshop description: Some of the most interesting questions in philosophy and science are the ones whose answers at first seem most obvious: How do we know what exists? Why does an apple fall from a tree instead of floating up? One of the central questions in philosophy of language and linguistic semantics in the 20th century was how we refer using proper names. It may seem obvious that a name refers to the person who bears it through an accord in that individual's speech community, and, similarly, that this referent is featured in the semantic content of utterances involving the name. This simple answer is reflected in Saul Kripke's influential proposal dating from the 1970s. But by itself it fails to account for observations about the full range of uses of names. How can our theory cover names without referents, like Athena or Bugs Bunny? Consider identity statements, in connection with which one of the central figures in the early literature on proper names, Gottlob Frege, remarked: "Identity challenges reflection". Since Hesperus and Phosphorus both refer to the same planet, Venus, how can Hesperus is Phosphorus mean something more than Hesperus is Hesperus? Closely related is the question of how to account for problems of de re belief attribution and denial: Thales didn't believe that Hesperus was Phosphorus should not be taken to attribute to Thales a failure to appreciate the law of identity. And how are referential uses of names related to predicative uses, as in There are ten Venuses in the directory? The challenge is to capture the distinctive aspects of these various uses while still providing a unified, overarching analysis of names, one which does justice to the intuitively appealing, simple answer entertained above. Contemporary work on these issues is being conducted by both linguists and philosophers, and the nature of the topic and some of the recalcitrant problems facing extant accounts call for their collaborative interaction. Accordingly, our invited participants include scholars from both fields. The workshop will consist of six extended sessions over two days, each led by one of our invited speakers, with ample time for discussion and interaction with the distinguished group of invited discussants. We have a website where participants can share papers and links to other relevant work, in preparation for our discussions. Others with appropriate background are cordially invited to join us. Please let us know by May 5th if you would like to attend, so we can plan accordingly. For more information, please visit the conference website: https://ias.ceu.edu/node/43092