Language, Names, and Information

"Saul Kripke's classic lectures, Naming and Necessity, changed the way we think about reference and intentionality, but it remains controversial just what the basic lesson of his work should be. In this book, Frank Jackson, with his characteristic clarity of mind and down-to-earth style of argument, articulates the view that Kripke's insights and arguments can be reconciled with a version of the description theory that were the focus of this attack. Jackson clarifies the terrain by putting the issue in the wider context of the role of language in the exchange of information. Much of what he says is persuasive, and all of it is challenging, stimulating, and clarifying."-Robert Stalnaker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Many take the description theory of reference for proper names to be dead in the water. Contrary to this view, Language, Names, and Information defends a version of the description theory from a perspective on language that sees words as a wonderful source of information about the nature of the world we live in. Indeed, the book is as much about the implications of this perspective for discussions of meaning and reference in general as it is for the particular topic of names. Representation and information, two-dimensionalism about content, the role of possible worlds and centered worlds, the distinction between what is metaphysically possible and what is conceptually possible, and rigidity - all make their appearances as required by the informational perspective on language.