metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

and the

philosophy of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, the ...

, an empty name is a

proper name A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', ''Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

that has no referent. The problem of empty names is the idea that empty names have a meaning when it seems they should not have. The name "

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

" is empty; there is nothing to which it refers. Yet, though there is no Pegasus, we know what the sentence "Pegasus has two wings" means. We can even understand the sentence "There is no such thing as Pegasus." But, what can the meaning of a proper name be, except the object to which it refers?

Overview

There are three broad ways which philosophers have tried to approach this problem. # The

meaning Meaning most commonly refers to: * Meaning (linguistics), meaning which is communicated through the use of language * Meaning (philosophy), definition, elements, and types of meaning discussed in philosophy * Meaning (non-linguistic), a general te ...

of a proper name is not the same as the object (if there is any) it refers to. Hence, though "Pegasus" refers to nothing, it still has a meaning. The German philosopher

Gottlob Frege Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic ph ...

seems to have held a theory of this sort. He says that the sentence Odysseus was set ashore at Ithaca while sound asleep' obviously has a sense. ... the thought xpressed by that sentenceremains the same whether 'Odysseus' has reference or not."

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ar ...

may also have held a similar theory, that a proper name is a disguised

definite description In formal semantics and philosophy of language, a definite description is a denoting phrase in the form of "the X" where X is a noun-phrase or a singular common noun. The definite description is ''proper'' if X applies to a unique individual or o ...

that signifies some unique characteristic. If any object has this characteristic feature, the name has a referent. Otherwise it is empty. Perhaps "

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...

" means "the teacher of

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

". Since there was such a person, "Aristotle" refers to that person. By contrast, "Pegasus" may mean "the winged horse of

Bellerophon Bellerophon (; Ancient Greek: Βελλεροφῶν) or Bellerophontes (), born as Hipponous, was a hero of Greek mythology. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles", and his ...

". Since there was no such horse, the name has no referent. This is the so-called description theory of names. The difficulty with this account is that we may always use a proper name to deny that the individual bearing the name actually has some characteristic feature. So, we can meaningfully say that Aristotle was not the teacher of Alexander. But if "Aristotle" ''means'' "teacher of Alexander", it would follow that this assertion is self-contradictory, which it is not.

Saul Kripke Saul Aaron Kripke (; November 13, 1940 – September 15, 2022) was an American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition. He was a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and eme ...

proposed this argument in a series of influential papers in the 1970s. Another difficulty is that different people may have different ideas about the defining characteristics of any individual. Yet we all understand what the name means. The sole information carried by the name seems to be the identity of the individual that it belongs to. This information therefore cannot be descriptive, it cannot describe the individual. As John Stuart Mill argued, a proper name tells us the identity of its bearer, without telling us anything else about it. Naming is rather like ''pointing''. # A theory that became influential following Kripke's attack is that empty proper names, have, strictly speaking, no meaning. This is the so-called direct-reference theory. Versions of this theory have been defended by Keith Donnellan, David Kaplan, Nathan Salmon,

Scott Soames Scott Soames (; born 1945) is an American philosopher. He is a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California (since 2004), and before that at Princeton University. He specializes in the philosophy of language and the history of ...

and others. The problem with the direct-reference theory is that names appear to be meaningful independently of whether they are empty. Furthermore, negative existential statements using empty names are both true and apparently meaningful. How can "Pegasus does not exist" be true if the name "Pegasus", as used in that sentence, has no meaning? # There are no empty names. All names have a referent. The difficulty with this theory is how to distinguish names like "Pegasus" from names like "Aristotle". Any coherent account of this distinction seems to require that there are, i.e. there exist, objects that do not exist. Given that "Pegasus does not exist" is true, it follows that the referent of "Pegasus" does not exist. Hence there is something—the referent of "Pegasus"—that does not exist. Some philosophers, such as

Alexius Meinong Alexius Meinong Ritter von Handschuchsheim (17 July 1853 – 27 November 1920) was an Austrian philosopher, a realist known for his unique ontology. He also made contributions to philosophy of mind and theory of value. Life Alexius Meinon ...

have argued that there are two senses of the verb "exists", exemplified by the sentence "there are things that do not exist". The first, signified by "there are", is the so-called "wide sense", including Pegasus, the golden mountain, the round square, and so on. The second, signified by "exist" is the so-called "narrow sense", encompassing only things that are real or existent.

Fictional entities

Some philosophers employ the related concepts of "fictional entities" (such as Sherlock Holmes) who are deliberate inventions, and of "mythical entities" (such as

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

) that result from accidental mistakes. Such entities appear to be employed in many different contexts:Thomasson, Amie. "Fictional Entities." In:

Jaegwon Kim Jaegwon Kim (September 12, 1934 – November 27, 2019) was a Korean-American philosopher. At the time of his death, Kim was an emeritus professor of philosophy at Brown University. He also taught at several other leading American universities ...

Ernest Sosa Ernest Sosa (born June 17, 1940) is an American philosopher primarily interested in epistemology. Since 2007 he has been Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, but he spent most of his career at Brown University. Edu ...

and Gary Rosenkrantz (eds.), ''A Companion to Metaphysics'' (2009), Blackwell: 10–18. * Discourse within fiction: The story itself saying that "

olmes was Olmes is a river of Hesse, Germany. It flows into the Schwalm near Borken. See also *List of rivers of Hesse A list of rivers of Hesse, Germany: A * Aar, tributary of the Dill * Aar, tributary of the Lahn * Aar, tributary of the Twiste *Aa ...

the most perfect reasoning and observing machine" * Intra-fictional discourse by readers: "Holmes solved his first mystery while in college" * Inter-fictional discourse by readers: "Holmes is even smarter than Batman" * Nonexistence claims: "Sherlock Holmes does not exist" * Discourse about the entity ''as'' a fictional entity: "Holmes is a fictional character"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Empty Name Philosophy of language Abstract object theory Concepts in metaphysics Logic Semantics Names