历史因果命名理论的批判性思考:认知语言学视角

A critical study of the causal-historical theory of names from the perspective of cognitive linguistics

本文首先介绍了历史因果命名理论的哲学基础,评述了指称论、描述语理论及描述语簇理论;继而概括了历史因果命名理论的核心观点;最后,基于认知语言学视角,从专名有无涵义、指称与描述语的关系、专名与指称的关系等三个方面,质疑和批判了历史因果命名理论。本文认为,历史因果命名理论虽为研究指称问题提供了一种崭新的思考方式,但其对专名和指称的论述到底有多大解释力仍需谨慎思考。

This paper first presents the philosophical foundation of Kripke’s Causal-Historical Theory of Names, including a review on Frege’s Referential Theory, Russell’ s Description Theory and Searle’ s Theory of Family-Description. Then, it made a summary of Causal-Historical Theory of Names. Finally, it questions the Causal-Historical Theory of Names in three aspects from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, i. e. the sense of proper names, the relation between reference and description, and the relation between proper names and reference. It is held that the Causal-Historical Theory of Names provides a new perspective for the study of reference, but its explanatory power for proper names and reference needs to be considered with caution.