Indiana University
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 1976
Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Mind
  •  2160
    Understanding proper names
    Linguistics and Philosophy 33 (4): 325-354. 2010.
    There is a fairly general consensus that names are Millian (or Russellian) genuine terms, that is, are singular terms whose sole semantic function is to introduce a referent into the propositions expressed by sentences containing the term. This answers the question as to what sort of proposition is expressed by use of sentences containing names. But there is a second serious semantic problem about proper names, that of how the referents of proper names are determined. This is the question that I…Read more
  •  1139
    Kripke's Objections to Description Theories of Names
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 8 (3). 1978.
    In “Naming and Necessity” Saul Kripke describes some cases which, he claims, provide counterexamples both to cluster theories and, more generally, to description theories of proper names. My view of these cases is that while they do not provide counterexamples to cluster theories, they can be used to provide evidence against single-description theories. In this paper I shall defend both of the claims involved in my view.
  •  999
    The semantics of belief ascriptions
    Noûs 33 (4): 519-557. 1999.
    nated discussion of the semantics of such verbs. I will call this view.
  •  720
    Truths Containing Empty Names
    In Piotr Stalmaszczyk & Luis Fernandez Moreno (eds.), Philosophical Approaches to Proper Names, Peter Lang. pp. 175-202. 2016.
    Abstract. On the Direct Reference thesis, proper names are what I call ‘genuine terms’, terms whose sole semantic contributions to the propositions expressed by their use are the terms’ semantic referents. But unless qualified, this thesis implies the false consequence that sentences containing names that fail to refer can never express true or false propositions. (Consider ‘The ancient Greeks worshipped Zeus’, for instance.) I suggest that while names are typically and fundamentally used as ge…Read more
  •  642
    Names and intentionality
    Philosophical Review 87 (2): 171-200. 1978.
  •  609
    Apriorism in the philosophy of language
    Philosophical Studies 52 (1): 1-32. 1987.
  •  577
    On Knowing Our Own Minds
    Philosophical Quarterly 52 (206): 107-116. 2002.
    This is an anthology of ?fteen papers concerning various philosophical problems related to the topic of self-knowledge. All but one of the papers were previously unpublished, and all but two are descendants of presentations at a conference on self-knowledge held at the University of St Andrews in 1995. The collection.
  •  533
    Causality and the Paradox of Names
    Midwest Studies in Philosophy 9 (1): 491-515. 1984.
  •  532
    The ambiguity of definite descriptions
    Theoria 45 (2): 78-89. 1979.
  •  464
    In my 1991 paper, AAnti-Individualism and Privileged Access,@ I argued that externalism in the philosophy of mind is incompatible with the thesis that we have privileged , nonempirical access to the contents of our own thoughts.<sup>1</sup> One of the most interesting responses to my argument has been that of Martin Davies (1998, 2000, and Chapter _ above) and Crispin Wright (2000 and Chapter _ above), who describe several types of cases to show that warrant for a premise does not always transmi…Read more
  •  431
    Divided reference in causal theories of names
    Philosophical Studies 30 (4). 1976.
    Gareth evans has proposed a type of case which shows that kripke's sketch of a causal theory of proper names is in need of modification. Kripke has himself suggested a way in which the modification might proceed, But I argue that this suggestion leads in the wrong direction. I consider a development of kripke's view by michael devitt which may overcome evans' case, But which is shown false by a different sort of case. The latter kind of case also shows that a view of names recently proposed by d…Read more
  •  427
    Forms of externalism and privileged access
    Philosophical Perspectives 16 199-224. 2002.
    In my 1991 paper
  •  386
    Mental anaphora
    Synthese 66 (1). 1986.
  •  378
    Curing folk psychology of arthritis
    Philosophical Studies 70 (3): 323-36. 1993.
    Tyler Burge's (1979) famous thought experiment concerning 'arthritis' is commonly assumed to show that all ascriptions of content to beliefs and other attitudes are dependent for their truth upon facts about the agent's social and linguistic environment. It is also commonly claimed that Burge's argument shows that Putnam's (1975) result regarding natural kind terms applies to all general terms whatever, and hence shows that all such terms have wide meanings.1 But I wish to show here, first, that…Read more
  •  305
    The internal basis of meaning
    Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 72 (June): 143-69. 1991.
  •  302
    Thought by description
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 78 (1): 83-102. 2008.
    No Abstract
  •  298
    Psychologism in Semantics
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 13 (1). 1983.
    According to grice, Semantic concepts like meaning and reference should be explicated in terms of the propositional attitudes. In this paper, I argue that grice's program is mistaken in principle. I first motivate a gricean strategy for defining denotation, Or semantic reference, In terms of rules that govern what speakers may refer to with the terms they use. I then express three paradigm gricean theories of denotation and introduce considerations which show that these theories are false.
  •  285
    The semantic basis of externalism
    In Sorin Costreie & Mircea Dumitru (eds.), Meaning and Truth, Pro Universitaria. 2015.
    1. The primary evidence and motivation for externalism in the philosophy of mind is provided by the semantic facts that support direct reference theories of names, indexi- cal pronouns, and natural kind terms. But many externalists have forgotten their sem- antic roots, or so I shall contend here. I have become convinced of this by a common reaction among externalists to the main argument of my 1991 paper AAnti-Individual- ism and Privileged Access.@ In that argument, I concluded that externalis…Read more
  •  278
    Michael Devitt, Designation Reviewed by Michael McKinsey (review)
    Philosophy in Review 3 (3): 112-116. 1983.
  •  276
    Individuating beliefs
    Philosophical Perspectives 8 303-30. 1994.
  •  237
    Critical Notice of Scott Soames, Beyond Rigidity (review)
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 35 (1): 169-178. 2005.
    In this admirable book, Scott Soames provides well defended answers to some of the most difficult and important questions in the philosophy of language, and he does so with characteristic thoroughness, clarity, and rigor. The book's title is appropriate, since it does indeed go ‘beyond rigidity’ in many ways. Among other things, Soames does the following in the course of the book. He persuasively argues that the main thesis of Kripke's Naming and Necessity—that ordinary names are rigid designato…Read more
  •  209
    The grammar of belief
    In William J. Rapaport & F. Orilia (eds.), Thought, Language, and Ontology, Essays in Memory of Hector-Neri Castaneda, Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1998.
  •  204
    Levels of obligation
    Philosophical Studies 35 (4). 1979.
  •  166
    Thought by Description
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 78 (1): 83-102. 2008.