Evans’s Theory of Names
摘要
專名(proper names)的使用在日常生活對於語言的使用上是非常常見的現象。我們一般對於專名的認識僅在於專名就是用來指稱某個對象。然而這樣平常普遍的現象似乎並沒有那麼簡單。如果我們深入去想就可以發現，其中包含了許多問題。關於專名可以討論的問題有很多，本文專注於其中的一個問題：專名的意義是什麼？筆者認為這是有關專名的問題之中核心的一個問題，也是能夠幫助我們更加了解專名使用的現象的問題。關於專名的討論其實已經有相當多哲學家提出其精闢的看法，本文並不打算也不可能討論所有的這些看法。如同題目所點出，本文主要關注的觀點是艾文斯(Gareth Evans)的觀點。本文從描繪出粗略的專名問題討論的歷史脈絡開始，接著會討論克里普奇(Saul Kripke)的觀點。通過克里普奇的觀點，接著再進入艾文斯的討論之中。以這樣的進路進行，其理由相當簡單，艾文斯對於克里普奇之觀點有一些討論與批判。另外，由於克里普奇的觀點於專名討論的歷史中佔有代表性的地位，因此，透過先行呈現克里普奇的觀點，我認為能夠對於進入艾文斯的觀點有所助益。因此第一章是呈現出克里普奇的觀點，第二及第三章則是本文的主題部份，艾文斯的觀點。第四章則是討論奧嵩(J. E. J Altham)對於艾文斯觀點的討論。於結論的部分，我將會試著呈現艾文斯對於專名意義的觀點是與克里普其相對立的。
關鍵詞：艾文斯、專名、指稱、指稱物、涵義
Abstract
It is common for us to use proper names when we use language in our daily life. Generally, people think that we use proper names to refer to objects. But the story is not so simple. If we reflect more deeply, we will find that there are many problems when we try to give an account of proper names. There are many questions which are concerned with proper names. I will not and cannot discuss all of them in this paper. I will focus on one of them: what is the meaning of proper names? I think this question is a key question, and is also a question which will help us better understand the usage of proper names. Proper names have already raised many questions and led to many philosophical debates; this paper will not (and cannot) discuss all of these. As mentioned in the title, this paper will focus on the views of Gareth Evans. This paper will sketch the historical context of discussion of proper names, and discuss the views of Saul Kripke, and then through Kripke’s views enter into a discussion of Evans’ views. The reason for using this approach is quite simple: Evans’ own views contain discussion and criticism of the views of Kripke. Additionally, since Kripke’s views hold a significant place in the history of proper names, I feel that they can provide a useful approach to enter into discussion of Evans’ views. Thus the first chapter will describe Kripke’s views, and the second and third will be concerned with the main topic - Evans’ own views. The fourth chapter will discuss J.E.J. Altham’s discussion of Evans. In the conclusion, I will attempt to show that Evans’ views on the meaning of proper names are opposed to those of Kripke’s.
Keywords: Evans, proper name, reference, denotation, connotation