Referring with proper names: towards a pragmatic account

Overview & Synopsis

In this paper, I explore several ways of incorporating proper names into the sort of account that I have defended elsewhere, according to which indexicals and demonstratives do not contribute reference to semantic content (nor, for that matter, anything else). I showthat some of the dominant accounts of names, including the Kripkean-Kaplanian referentialist account, are compatible with my account. However, my sympathy goes to what I call the pragmatic account, on which names contribute neither reference nor anything else to semantic content - rather, they are just pragmatic devices that used by the speaker to help her interlocutors figure out what she is talking about.