Contemporary Debate On The Theory Of Proper Names Viewed From The Perspective Of The Puzzle About Belief

There are two representative theories on the meaning of proper names: one is the theory of descriptions proposed by Frege,which was revised and supplemented by Searle,and the other is the theory of causal history advocated by Kripke and others.Kripke’s Causal-Historical theory is mainly aimed at the traditional theory of proper names and descriptions.These two theories occupy an important position in the history of contemporary western logical philosophy and the development of contemporary western philosophy.The broad sense of “meaning” includes the “meaning” and “reference” of linguistic expressions,while the narrow sense of “meaning” only refers to the “meaning” of linguistic expressions.The meaning of a name can be divided into two categories: one is whether a linguistic expression has both reference and meaning,and the other is how to determine the reference of a linguistic expression.Based on the mystery of belief,this paper analyses the representative solutions of the mystery,and systematically elaborates and analyses the descriptive theory and causality theory from this point of penetration,and finds out the respective achievements and shortcomings of the two theories.At present,some scholars have pointed out that these two theories can be compatible,and put forward the idea of integrating them.This paper aims to integrate them more carefully and systematically.Compared with the traditional theory of proper names,the intentionality theory of proper names is a new meaning theory,which has more advantages and powerful puzzle solving function.This new theory of meaning conforms to the trend of “pragmatic turn” and has a stronger puzzle-solving function.This paper uses the method of comparative study and the method of analysis,the method of contradictory analysis,and synthesis to elaborate and analyze the two theories of descriptive theory and causal history theory.It summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the two theories and integrates them.Finally,it puts forward the theory of intentionality of proper names,which gives a tentative answer to the mystery of belief.