Descriptions and Beyond

The volume is well-conceptualized and well-edited ... an excellent collection which gives a real sense of how semantics is done these days. Zoltan Gendler Szabo, Mind It is now a full century since the publication of "On Denoting", the essay in which Bertrand Russell introduced the theory of descriptions. The current volume, released just in time for the centenary, shows unequivocally that Russell's analysis remains central to philosophy of language and linguistic semantics: the contributors are all major figures, the quality of the essays is quite high overall, and each essay addresses areas of current research. Gary Ostertag, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews While many of the nineteen chapters explore various consequences of Russell's approach, developing it in novel ways and defending it against various criticisms (some new, some of long standing), others explore alternative treatments. In addition, some essays consider the application of Russell's theory to phenomena Russell himself never addressed -- for example, so-called pronominal descriptions and anaphoric pronouns... the volume is well organized, the material is often exciting, and the editors have done an impressive job, in their section introductions, of summarizing the main points of the essays. Gary Ostertag, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews . . anyone interested in definite and indefinite descriptions, reference, quantification, pragmatics, anaphora, dynamic binding and descriptive names will want to have this book and devour as much of it as they can. If you're a philosopher of language, or working in linguistic semantics, or just someone who wants to get up to speed in these areas, that should mean you. Gary Ostertag, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews