A Study On Russell's Referential Theory Of Meaning-Being Different From The Argument Of Indication And Substance

Bertrand Russell is a famous British philosopher of the twentieth century.He is one of the founders of western analytic philosophy who influences the subsequent development of philosophy greatly.The theory of reference is of great importance to philosophy of language.The study on reference,especially those focusing on the discussion about the difference between references and meanings,has become an important driving force in promoting the philosophy of language.Ascribing theory of reference to referential theory of meaning,Russell contributes more to the former.This thesis agrees with Russell's viewpoint.Russell's theory of reference is a developing one:He argues that words are symbols referring to certain things,and then he divides words into proper names and descriptions.Both the Argument of Indication and Substance and Russell's theory have the same "quality",regarding names as the reflection of objective things.However,because of the differences in historical backgrounds of culture, Chinese Logic is different from western Logic in tradition and thought.To further the study on Russell's referential theory of reference,this thesis compares Russell's theory with the Argument of Indication and Substance.There are four parts in thesis.Part 1 is about reference and meaning.It includes a summary of the theory of meaning,a review of referential problems,and a summary of relations between reference and meaning.Part 2 talks about Russell's referential theory of meaning in detail.I will try to delineate the foundational pro-know principle of Russell's referential theory of meaning and his theory of description,and give a summary to Russell's referential theory of meaning.Part 3 examines western experts' reflection to Russell's theory.I will probe on D.E Strawson,Keith Donnellan and Saul Kripke and other philosophers' theory of reference.Part 4 is about the difference between the Argument of Indication and Substance and Russell's referential theory of meaning.I will analyze Russell's theory in a new point of view: I will serve a brief summary to the Argument of Indication and Substance,compare these two theories discussed above,and draw a preliminary conclusion.