Language, Names, and Information (eBook)

Frank Jackson is Visiting Professor in Philosophy at Princeton University and holds a fractional appointment as Distinguished Professor at The Australian National University. Jackson is a corresponding fellow of the British Academy and the author of several books and papers on a wide range of topics in analytical philosophy.

Prologue.

Lecture One: The Debate over the Theory of Reference for
Proper Names.

Lecture Two: Understanding, Representation,
Information.

Lecture Three: Ir-content and the Set of Worlds Where a
Sentence is True.

Lecture Four: Two Spaceism.

Lecture Five: The Informational Value of Names.

References.

Index.

"Saul Kripke's classic lectures, Naming and Necessity,
changed the way we think about reference and intentionality, but it
remains controversial just what the basic lesson of his work should
be. In this book, Frank Jackson, with his characteristic clarity of
mind and down-to-earth style of argument, articulates the view that
Kripke's insights and arguments can be reconciled with a version of
the description theory that were the focus of his attack. Jackson
clarifies the terrain by putting the issue in the wider context of
the role of language in the exchange of information. Much of what
he says is persuasive, and all of it is challenging, stimulating
and clarifying."

--Robert Stalnaker, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology