General terms and rigidity: another solution to the trivialization problem
In this paper I am concerned with the problem of applying the notion of rigidity to general terms. In Naming and Necessity, Kripke has clearly suggested that we should include some general terms among the rigid ones, namely, those common nouns semantically correlated with natural substances, species...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Estadual de Campinas
2014-06-01
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| Series: | Manuscrito |
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| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-60452014000100002&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1828160596848148480 |
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| author | Eleonora Orlando |
| author_facet | Eleonora Orlando |
| author_sort | Eleonora Orlando |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this paper I am concerned with the problem of applying the notion of rigidity to general terms. In Naming and Necessity, Kripke has clearly suggested that we should include some general terms among the rigid ones, namely, those common nouns semantically correlated with natural substances, species and phenomena, in general, natural kinds -'water', 'tiger', 'heat'- and some adjectives -'red', 'hot', 'loud'. However, the notion of rigidity has been defined for singular terms; after all, the notion that Kripke has provided us with is the notion of a rigid designator. But general terms do not designate single individuals: rather, they apply to many of them. In sum, the original concept of rigidity cannot be straightforwardly applied to general terms: it has to be somehow redefined in order to make it cover them. As is known, two main positions have been put forward to accomplish that task: the identity of designation conception, according to which a rigid general term is one that designates the same property or kind in all possible worlds, and the essentialist conception, which conceives of a rigid general term as an essentialist one, namely, a term that expresses an essential property of an object. My purpose in the present paper is to defend a particular version of the identity of designation conception: on the proposed approach, a rigid general term will be one that expresses the same property in all possible worlds and names the property it expresses. In my opinion, the position can be established on the basis of an inference to the best explanation of our intuitive interpretation and evaluation, relative to counterfactual circumstances, of statements containing different kinds of general terms, which is strictly analogous to our intuitive interpretation and evaluation, relative to such circumstances, of statements containing different kinds of singular ones. I will argue that it is possible to offer a new solution to the trivialization problem that is thought to threaten all versions of the identity of designation conception of rigidity. Finally, I will also sketch a solution to the so-called 'over-generalization and under-generalization problems', both closely related to the above-mentioned one. |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-62413bcad0f64800a1ed4de6c5b18814 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2317-630X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T00:23:13Z |
| publishDate | 2014-06-01 |
| publisher | Universidade Estadual de Campinas |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Manuscrito |
| spelling | doaj.art-62413bcad0f64800a1ed4de6c5b188142022-12-22T03:55:37ZengUniversidade Estadual de CampinasManuscrito2317-630X2014-06-01371498010.1590/S0100-60452014000100002S0100-60452014000100002General terms and rigidity: another solution to the trivialization problemEleonora Orlando0Universidad de Buenos AiresIn this paper I am concerned with the problem of applying the notion of rigidity to general terms. In Naming and Necessity, Kripke has clearly suggested that we should include some general terms among the rigid ones, namely, those common nouns semantically correlated with natural substances, species and phenomena, in general, natural kinds -'water', 'tiger', 'heat'- and some adjectives -'red', 'hot', 'loud'. However, the notion of rigidity has been defined for singular terms; after all, the notion that Kripke has provided us with is the notion of a rigid designator. But general terms do not designate single individuals: rather, they apply to many of them. In sum, the original concept of rigidity cannot be straightforwardly applied to general terms: it has to be somehow redefined in order to make it cover them. As is known, two main positions have been put forward to accomplish that task: the identity of designation conception, according to which a rigid general term is one that designates the same property or kind in all possible worlds, and the essentialist conception, which conceives of a rigid general term as an essentialist one, namely, a term that expresses an essential property of an object. My purpose in the present paper is to defend a particular version of the identity of designation conception: on the proposed approach, a rigid general term will be one that expresses the same property in all possible worlds and names the property it expresses. In my opinion, the position can be established on the basis of an inference to the best explanation of our intuitive interpretation and evaluation, relative to counterfactual circumstances, of statements containing different kinds of general terms, which is strictly analogous to our intuitive interpretation and evaluation, relative to such circumstances, of statements containing different kinds of singular ones. I will argue that it is possible to offer a new solution to the trivialization problem that is thought to threaten all versions of the identity of designation conception of rigidity. Finally, I will also sketch a solution to the so-called 'over-generalization and under-generalization problems', both closely related to the above-mentioned one.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-60452014000100002&lng=en&tlng=enGeneral termsrigidityidentity of designation conceptiontrivialization problemover-generalization and under-generalization problems |
| spellingShingle | Eleonora Orlando General terms and rigidity: another solution to the trivialization problem Manuscrito General terms rigidity identity of designation conception trivialization problem over-generalization and under-generalization problems |
| title | General terms and rigidity: another solution to the trivialization problem |
| title_full | General terms and rigidity: another solution to the trivialization problem |
| title_fullStr | General terms and rigidity: another solution to the trivialization problem |
| title_full_unstemmed | General terms and rigidity: another solution to the trivialization problem |
| title_short | General terms and rigidity: another solution to the trivialization problem |
| title_sort | general terms and rigidity another solution to the trivialization problem |
| topic | General terms rigidity identity of designation conception trivialization problem over-generalization and under-generalization problems |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-60452014000100002&lng=en&tlng=en |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT eleonoraorlando generaltermsandrigidityanothersolutiontothetrivializationproblem |