invitation to a philosophy talk - reminder

The CEU Department of Philosophy cordially invites you to a talk by Marián Zouhar (Comenius University, Bratislava) on 'General Terms and Rigidity' 5.30 PM, Tuesday, 30 October 2007, Zrinyi 14 building, Room 412 Abstract: The paper deals with the question, in what sense can we say that certain general terms are rigid designators. It is argued that there are general terms which designate intensions (properties, kinds, species, etc.) de iure, i.e., in the same way as proper names designate their bearers. There are also (compound) general terms which are de facto rigid; such terms either express higher order intensions having, as their values, lower order intensions and are said to be rigid because they designate the same lower order intensions in all possible worlds and times, or express a first order intensions having, as their values, extensions and are said to be rigid because they designate the same extensions in all possible worlds and times (e.g., mathematical expressions). Non-rigid general terms designate different lower order intensions (or extensions) with respect to different possible worlds and times. A substantial part of the paper is devoted to critical discussions of certain well-known and popular views on rigid designation with respect to general terms. It is argued that essentialist approaches claiming that rigid designation can be ascribed to essentialist predicates are ill-founded because assume certain dubious metaphysical theses that should not be invoked in semantics. Special attention is devoted to M. Devitt's theory of rigid application. Similarly, an intensional theory propounded by J. LaPorte, according to which 'tiger', for example, is rigid because designates the same intension (i.e., a species) in all possible worlds and times, is put under criticism. The theory defended in the present paper has it that 'tiger' has to be non-rigid, in spite of arguments presented by both essentialist and intensional theories (and in this way resembles expressions such as 'bachelor'). Finally, a version of anti-essentialism is outlined and defended. Kriszta Biber Department Coordinator Philosophy Department Tel: 36-1-327-3806 Fax: 36-1-327-3072 E-mail: biberk(a)ceu.hu