The Necessity of Reference

Ori Simchen
University of British Columbia

Philosophical orthodoxy has it that a token of the name ‘Aristotle’ is only contingently about the man Aristotle. Had things turned out differently in relevant respects, that very token would have referred to something else, or perhaps to nothing at all. For example, it has seemed natural to suppose that had a given token of the name ‘Aristotle’ been connected via a causal-historical chain of communication to someone other than Aristotle, then it would have referred to that other person instead. I argue that philosophical orthodoxy has it wrong. A token referring to Aristotle could not help but refer to Aristotle.