Study On The Reference Theory Of The Name

The reference problem of the name is always the focus which the logicians, philosophers and linguists pay attention to, especially the modern time, this very problem has been being deeply studied and then such theories as the theory of description of the name, the theory of the historic causality. In this thesis, the author selects reference of the name theory. On the one hand, the author tries tograsp the attribution and defect of the reference of the name; on the other hand,to grasp the development of the theory as a whole and to carry through to the endthe insight that terms have definite meaning.Frege, Russel, Wittgenstein and Searle, the representatives of the theory of description tradition, suppose that proper name do not have meaning which determines reference also has reference and it is the abbreviate slighted description language; Kripke and Putnam who has presented the theory of the historic causality consider that proper name is the rigid designator, and always refers to the same object in every possible world. And also they use "naming ceremony" to explain the forming of proper names, and the chain of historic causality to indicate the transmission of proper names reference. These two kinds of theories each has its own advantages, but also difficulties they themselves could not overcome.This thesis mainly explores the following five aspects:Part One is an introduction of the background of the reference of the name. Part two is an introduction of the theory of description tradition. Part three is an introduction of the theory of the historic causality. Part four is discussion the philosophy effect of the two reference of the name. Part five is the evaluation of the two reference of the name.