A Research On Kaplan’s Direct Reference Theory

The reference of expressions has always been an important topic in the philosophy of language.Many linguists and logicians have participated in the discussion of the problem of reference.This dissertation is devoted to studying David Kaplan’s direct reference theory.Its goal is to explore and analyze the relationship between demonstratives(or indexicals)and direct reference,and the mechanism by which they realize direct reference.Thus,the theoretical tools of direct reference are applied to solve philosophical problems.In addition,the flaws of this theory are also pointed out.It achieves the purpose of deepening the research on the problem of reference.The main work of this dissertation on Kaplan’s direct reference theory includes the following four aspects:(1)I analyze the connection between Frege,Russell,and Kripke’s theories and Kaplan’s direct reference theory,and then I explain their influence on Kaplan’s direct reference theory.(2)Since the referential use of Donnellan’s definite descriptions inspired the demonstrative use of Kaplan’s demonstratives,I analyze Kaplan’s treatment of the “dthat”operator which is directly referential,and later when solving philosophical problems,I apply it.(3)I explore the demonstratives and indexicals involved in Kaplan’s theory of direct reference,and argue that they are directly referential;I outline the core of Kaplan’s theory of direct reference--the distinction between character and content,grasping it as a usable theoretical tool;in addition,I demonstrate the comparison between direct reference semantics and Fregean semantics.(4)Based on the analysis and interpretation of Kaplan’s theory,this dissertation uses its theoretical tools to demonstrate the existence of a priori and contingent proposition and deal with the “Frege’s Puzzle”.First,using the theoretical tool of Kaplan’s direct reference—the distinction between character and content,I transform proper names into the form of Kaplan’s direct reference expressions.The analysis of the sentence implies a priori.The expression is directly referential and the extension of the definite description depends on possible worlds,which guarantee the contingency of the proposition.By constructing a sentence of the form “α=dthat[α]”or using the method of adding the operator “actual” to the definite description,the existence of a priori and contingent proposition is finally demonstrated.Secondly,the theoretical tool of Kaplan’s direct reference is also used to analyze Frege’s puzzle.I use the “dthat” and “actual” operators to transform proper names into direct referential expressions,so that the different characters of two expressions with the same referent are revealed.According to the identity of the character and cognitive significance demonstrated by Kaplan,I come to the conclusion that the two sentences about Frege’s puzzle have different cognitive values.