Philosophy of Language: New Frontiers in...
Jaakko Reinikainen, “Towards a Pure Causal-Historical Theory of Reference Borrowing,” Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 81, no. 4 (2025): 1173–94, https://doi.org/10.17990/RPF/2025_81_4_1173.
| Item Type | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Author | Jaakko Reinikainen |
| Abstract | This paper develops and defends a pure causal-historical theory of reference borrowing, understood as a theory that explains successful reference transmission without appeal to independently specified conceptual or descriptive content. Starting from Kripke’s insight that speakers can refer to historically distant individuals via chains of transmission, the paper distinguishes sharply between the epistemic individuation of reference—relevant to interpretation, communication, and cognitive access—and its metaphysical individuation, grounded in causal-historical relations. Against hybrid theories of reference borrowing, particularly those that posit minimal true or approximately true categorical beliefs as necessary conditions for successful borrowing, the paper advances a three-step objection based on arguments from ignorance, error, and theoretical incompleteness. Drawing on the mental files framework, it argues that descriptive information plays an explanatory role on the epistemic side of reference, but not on the metaphysical side. Through discussion of canonical cases involving historical names, fictional misunderstandings, and runic inscriptions, the paper concludes that reference borrowing can succeed in the absence of associated true descriptions, provided that the appropriate causal-historical connections are in place. The result is a programmatic defense of reference as a substantive causal relation, open in principle to empirical investigation, and irreducible to descriptive or hybrid accounts. |
| Date | 2025 |
| Library Catalog | 401; 401.43; 401.45; 160; 401.41 |
| License | © 2026 by Aletheia - Associação Científica e Cultural |
| Volume | 81 |
| Publisher | Axioma - Publicações da Faculdade de Filosofia |
| Section | Philosophy of Language: New Frontiers in Meaning and Use |
| Pages | 1173-1194 |
| Publication | Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia |
| DOI | 10.17990/RPF/2025_81_4_1173 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Journal Abbr | RPF |
| ISSN | 0870-5283 ; 2183-461X |
| Date Added | 1/31/2026, 7:42:05 PM |
| Modified | 1/31/2026, 9:22:28 PM |
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