On Chisholm ’s Theory Of Reference

Roderick M.Chisholm,one of the most creative of American philosophers,applied Brentano’s theory of intentionality across the field,from the field of philosophy of mind to the field of philosophy of language,pioneering the principle of the primacy of intentionality,that is,intentionality determines the reference of language.In a fundamental sense,the problem of reference is essentially a problem of intentionality.This paper focuses on Chisholm’s theory of reference.Taking the first person as the key point of analysis and the theory of intentionality as the innovative point,Chisholm elaborates the theory of reference from the intersection of philosophy of mind and philosophy of language.The paper is divided into six specific sections.In addition to introducing the background and significance of the study and the current state of research at home and abroad,the first part also outlines the research ideas of this paper as a whole,so that readers can more clearly understand the context of this paper.In view of the paucity of domestic and international literature on Chisholm’s denotative ideas,this paper mainly uses foreign literature as a reference source.The second part focuses on Chisholm’s theory of intentionality and Chisholm’s ontological presuppositions as the theoretical basis for his theory of reference.The paper traces the development of Chisholm’s theory of intentionality because his philosophy of mind,philosophy of language and ontology are all based on intentionality.It also discusses his ontological presupposition of ’pure’,which refers to the rejection of certain nonPlatonic entities.The third part summarises Chisholm’s idea of the first person,which is the key point and central idea of his idea of reference.Firstly,first-person pronouns are directly attributed by reference,so that references to other things are able to be transformed by references to ourselves.Secondly,the epistemological problem arises in the first-person sentence,so that Chisholm summarises four ways of resolving it,but ultimately concludes that the best way is to interpret man himself as the primary object of all his intentional attitudes.The fourth part elaborates on Chisholm’s theory of the proper name.The proper name,as a special case of reference,therefore requires a detailed discussion of it.The key to understanding the usage of other indicative and proper name is to understand the interpretation of first-person pronouns,where references to other things are capable of being transformed by references to ourselves.Chisholm summarises the two senses of the proper name,the indicative and the secondary.In addition,he responds to Kripke’s conundrum of proper names and attempts to give a solution to it.The fifth part elaborates on two aspects: firstly,it introduces the specific modalities of the reference behavior,namely direct and indirect attribution.Firstly,the two principles of direct attribution and the two prerequisites for using the concept of attribution are introduced,and the theoretical implications and three main advantages of direct attribution are elaborated;secondly,the definition of indirect attribution and the conditions for its occurrence are introduced;finally,the content and object of attribution are introduced;the object of direct attribution is always oneself,and the object of indirect attribution is something to which one indirectly assigns an attribute.Secondly,in the cognitive dimension,the specific form of the result of the reference is then expressed as a belief.De re beliefs,de dicto beliefs and de se beliefs are fundamentally able to be transformed into an understanding of the self.Through a series of transformations a mental solution to the problem of reference is obtained.All beliefs are ultimately self-attributions of properties,and the differences between the three kinds of beliefs are fundamentally just the various attributes involved.In the sixth section,the strengths and weaknesses of Chisholm’s reference thought are evaluated,and other philosophers’ challenges to Chisholm’s theory and his own responses are noted.The innovative and limited nature of Chisholm’s thought is assessed,and the implications of his theory for the future development of philosophy are briefly summarised.In short,the third part(the theory of the proper name)and the fourth part(the theory of the first person)are both dealt with on the language level,while the fifth part(De re beliefs,de dicto beliefs and de se beliefs)are dealt with on the mental level.The different perspectives of the exposition of the nominative are thus tinged with the linguistic and the psychological aspects of the nominative thought.