Meaning and Reference [Paperback]

This volume presents a selection of the most important writings in the debate on the nature of meaning and reference which started one hundred years ago with Frege's classic essay On Sense and Reference. Contributors include Bertrand Russell, P.F. Strawson, W.V. Quine, Donald Davidson, John McDowell, Michael Dummett, Hilary Putnam, Saul Kripke, David Wiggins, and Gareth Evans. The aim of this series is to bring together important recent writings in major areas of philosophical inquiry, selected from a wide variety of sources, mostly periodicals, which may not be conveniently available to the university student or the general reader.

Introduction,A. W. Moore
On Sense and Reference,Gottlob Frege
Letter to Jourdain,Gottlob Frege
Descriptions,Bertrand Russell
On Referring,P. F. Strawson
Mind and Verbal Dispositions,W. V. Quine
Truth and Meaning,Donald Davidson
On the Sense and Reference of a Proper Name,John McDowell
What does the Appeal to Use Do for the Theory of Meaning?,Michael Dummett
Meaning and Reference,Hilary Putnam
Identity and Necessity,Saul Kripke
Putnam's Doctrine of Natural Kind Words and Frege's Doctrine of Sense, Reference, and Extension: Can they Cohere?,David Wiggins
The Causal Theory of Names,Gareth Evans
Frege's Distinction between Sense and Reference,Michael Dummett
Wittgenstein on Following a Rule,John McDowell

An outstanding selection of authors. --William Ryan,Gonzaga University

An outstanding collection of classic works in the philosophy of language, and could easily serve as the core text in such a course. This is a difficult subject for undergraduates to deal with, but the unifying theme of the book and its lucid introduction should help greatly. I would strongly recommend it. --Duncan Richter,University of Virginia