Study On The Reference Of Definite Descriptions

The research in reference is always one of the basic problems of Philosophy of logic. The paper chooses the linguistic phenomenon of definite descriptions to research. After concluding and analyzing the past Classical theory,the writer tries to explore this problem from a new perspective with the wish of bringing some enlightenment to the study of this problem. The paper is mainly divided into four chapters.The first part ,which including the first three chapters content of the paper, is the review of the past study on the reference problem of definite descriptions.The first chapter is the discussion of Russell's theory of descriptions. It represents the classical semantic analysis which aims at solving some problem in the field of Philosophy using elementary logic language. The second chapter,the writer discusses the Strawson, Donnellan and Kripke's points of definite descriptions orderly. This process is not only the latter's criticism to the former ,but also the development process of the research in the language phenomenon of definite descriptions. The third chapter is the summary of the previous classical theory in which the writer also enumerates the questions which previous studies has not yet solved.The second part is the writer's further exploration of the problem, including the fourth chapter content of the paper. First, the writer discusses the reference problem of definite descriptions by profiting some knowledge of Possible World theory and the Relevance Theory which comes from the cognition pragmatics. Then, the writer interprets the unresolved questions which listed in the front of the paper. According to Relevance Theory, we may suppose that the definite descriptions encode not only conceptual meaning, but also procedural meaning. On the one hand, the definite descriptions is a kind of tool uses for discussing the individual which satisfies with its description. The conceptual meaning provides semantic prototype to seeking the referent. On the other hand, the definite article of the definite descriptions has procedural meaning by guiding the cognitive processor in his/her search for optimally relevant individual .The possible world of reference bases on the cognitive context which the communicators both sides share with. Both sides take the relevance principle as a criterion. They determine the referent through ostensive inferential communication model. Because these possible worlds are the sets which is composed of a series of assumptions,so we can determine the referent when the assumption is mutual manifestness .No matter that is a specific object or abstract concept.On the basis of analyzing the previous studies, the paper researches the reference of definite descriptions from the perspective of cognition by using the Relevance Theory. The writer attempts to seek for one theory sight which is able to accommodate not only the objective factor, but also the main body factor. The paper proposes that it should pay attention to the dynamic role of the language main body in choosing the context. It can explain the role of the main body and the context in determining the referent more adequately. It will unify the Semantic reference and the Speaker's reference by using the Relevance Theory. Then have a better view to explain the role of the definite descriptions'sense and the individual intention in determining the referent.