Singular Propositions and Singular Thoughts

Abstract

The core of the debate between Fregeans and Russellians in the philosophy of language concerns the content of object-dependent propositions, or how we ought to individuate and semantically represent the content of propositions that are about specific individuals. This essay is an investigation of the contemporary status of this debate. My aim is to show how the causal theorists' picture of reference determination entails the need for both Fregean and Russellian conceptions of propositional content in the study of mind and language, and to investigate some of the consequences of this position.