Metaphysicians of Meaning: Russell and Frege on Sense and Denotation (International Library of Philosophy)

Russell's On Denoting and Frege's On Sense and Reference are now widely held to be two of the founding papers of twentieth century philosophy and form the heart of the famous ""linguistic turn"". The Metaphysicians of Meaning is the first book to challenge the accepted secondary work on these two seminal papers, forcing us to reconsider the interpretation of these two vitally important works on meaning "Bertrand Russell and Gottlob Frege are universally acknowledged as the founding fathers of Analytic Philosophy. Russell's essay 'On Denoting' and Frege's 'On Sense and Reference' propose theories which are arguably their authors' most remarkable contributions to philosophy. Both remain at the forefront of contemporary discussion in philosophy of language and philosophical logic." "The Metaphysicians of Meaning takes a fresh look at these two seminal essays, challenging much of the accepted understanding of them. It forces us to reconsider their author's grounds for advancing them which, as Gideon Makin argues, have been generally misunderstood. Why did Russell and Frege abandon their former theories? What, in their views at the time, were the theoretical alternatives and reasons for adopting these new solutions? Even when these questions have been clearly distinguished they have received only partial answers." "The Metaphysicians of Meaning presents new insights into Russell and Frege and offers a new comparative discussion of their work. It will be essential reading for all students of philosophy of language and logic."--Jacket The present chapter introduces Russell's first theory of denoting, namely the one he put forth in The Principles of Mathematics and endorsed up until the time he struck upon the theory of descriptions in 1905.