Reference is a central topic in the philosophy of language, linguistic semantics, and related areas of philosophy and linguistics. This textbook offers an up-to-date introduction to key debates about reference. While comprehensive in approach, it is written for students and does not assume any prior training in philosophy of language.

• Preface


• 1: Introduction to Kripkeanism and the Rejection of Fregeanism


• 2: A Puzzle about Belief, Reference, and Agency


• 3: A Puzzle About Referring To What Isn't There


• 4: The Puzzle of Essential Indexicality


• 5: Reference Magnetism and a Puzzle About Reference Determination


• 6: A Puzzle About Naming Arbitrarily


• 7: Predicativism: The Puzzle of 'Every Alfred'


• 8: Plural Reference: The Puzzle of 'John and Paul and George and Ringo'


• 9: A Puzzle about Intuitions and Methodology


• 10: The End of Reference?

Herman Cappelen is a professor of philosophy at the universities of Oslo and St Andrews. He is a Research Director at CSMN (in Oslo), and the Editor-in-Chief of Inquiry. He is the author of six books and many papers.
Josh Dever is a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin and a professorial fellow at the Arche research centre at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of many papers in philosophy of language and logic, and the co-author with Herman Cappelen of The Inessential Indexical and Context and Communication. He is also an associate editor of Semantics and Pragmatics.