Situation Descriptivism

Yu Izumi
University of Maryland

In this paper I propose a descriptivist analysis of proper names under an empirical assumption that the syntax of proper names is complex.  I argue that the logical form of the singular use of a proper name is
[ the [ F s ] ] where `s' is a situation pronoun that denotes a certain situation, a part of a possible world.  The theory of situation pronouns generally accounts for the context-dependence of determiner phrases.  Situation pronouns play the roles of quantifier domain restriction indices.  They also encode the modal properties of determiner phrases.   Definite descriptions can rigidly and uniquely designate objects in virtue of the co-existing situation pronouns. Since the proposed descriptivist analysis claims that names are contextually produced rigid designators, it avoids the standard objections to classical descriptivism.