Frege to Kripke: The Problem Of Reference

The book presents a comprehensive account of the problem of reference; from the founder of analytic philosophy Gottlob Frege, to the great living logician and philosopher of language Saul A. Kripke. In philosophy of language, the fundamental problem is: how to determine and stipulate the reference of a singular term, like a proper name. Frege and Russell’s independent approach of descriptivism, deals with this problem in a plausible manner. Frege’s notion of ‘sense’ and ‘reference,’ is an important move in this direction; while Russell’s epistemological issue of ‘Knowledge by Description,’ further clarifies the issue. The book takes into account various approaches to the theories of reference, in contemporary philosophy of language. Kripke remains as the central figure in the book, which not only praises his important contribution in philosophy of language, but also highlights fallacies in his modal and epistemological arguments against Frege and Russell.