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1、AppearedinNoûs39(2005),pp.596-631.EmptyNames,FictionalNames,MythicalNamesDavidBraunUniversityofRochesterJohnStuartMill(1843)thoughtthatpropernamesdenoteindividualsanddonotconnoteattributes.ContemporaryMilliansagree,inspirit.Weholdthatthesemanticcontentofapropernameissi
2、mplyitsreferent.WealsothinkthatthesemanticcontentofadeclarativesentenceisaRussellianstructuredpropositionwhoseconstituentsarethesemanticcontentsofthesentence’s1constituents.Thispropositioniswhatthesentencesemanticallyexpresses.Therefore,wethinkthatsentencescontainingpr
3、opernamessemanticallyexpresssingularpropositions,whicharepropositionshavingindividualsasconstituents.Forinstance,thesentence‘GeorgeW.Bushishuman’semanticallyexpressesapropositionthathasBushhimselfasaconstituent.Callthis2theoryMillianism.ManyphilosophersinitiallyfindMil
4、lianismquiteappealing,butfinditmuchlesssoafterconsideringitsmanyapparentproblems.Amongtheseproblemsarethoseraisedbynon-3referringnames,whicharesometimes(tendentiously)calledemptynames.Plausibleexamplesofemptynamesincludecertainnamesfromfiction,suchas‘SherlockHolmes’,wh
5、ichIshallcallfictionalnames,andcertainnamesfrommythandfalsescientifictheory,suchas‘Pegasus’4and‘Vulcan’,whichIshallcallmythicalnames.IhavedefendedMillianismfromobjectionsconcerningemptynamesinpreviouswork(Braun1993).Inthispaper,Ishallre-presentthoseobjections,alongwith
6、somenewones.I1shallthendescribemypreviousMilliantheoryofemptynames,andmypreviousrepliestotheobjections,andconsiderwhetherthetheoryorrepliesneedrevision.Ishallnextconsiderwhetherfictionalandmythicalnamesarereallyempty.Ishallarguethatatleastsomeutterancesofmythicalnamesa
7、re.1.TheProblemsLet’sassume,forthemoment,thatthepropernames‘Vulcan’and‘SherlockHolmes’failtorefer.Ordinaryspeakersjudgethesenamestobemeaningful,unlikethenonsensicalstringofphonemes‘thoodrupqua’.But(onemightplausiblyclaim)ifordinaryspeakersjudgethat‘Vulcan’and‘SherlockH
8、olmes’aremeaningful,thentheyhavesemanticcontents.YetMillianismentailsthattheydonothavesemanticcontents.Thus,onemightc
