Theoretical name research

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The Theoretical name research is concerned with the nature and use of names from generally-theoretical point of view. It is on the one hand part of philosophy , especially logic , on the other hand of linguistics .

  • The comparison of name and designation is part of the logic . The same question is discussed here for the language level as in the comparison of the general term, which corresponds to the designation, and the individual term, which corresponds to the name. (see also: general term / individual term )
  • The question of the meaning of the name for the named object, in the special case the named person, arises in other areas of philosophy.

In traditional research, the name has been defined as a designation for an individual as opposed to the appellative , which functions as a class designation.

The interpretation of the name is problematic. There are 3 views on this:

  1. Names have no meaning (based on John Stuart Mill )
  2. Names have a limited meaning or are semantically reduced (influence according to speech act theory )
  3. Names have a maximum of meaning (based on Otto Jespersen )

The breadth of beliefs is based on how one defines meaning. Mill defined the meaning as a class term, so this definition only applied to appellatives. The class possessed a number of characteristics that were associated with this meaning. Accordingly, there were signs with (appellative) and signs without (proper names) meaning for him. Jespersen, on the other hand, assumes a one-element class. Thus the individual is also a class object and therefore has a meaning.

This means that the name is a special case of the appellative because names denote objects from classes with only one object each (individual terms). Other appellatives are called terms. On the other hand, they designate objects from open classes (general terms). Until the late 1960s, the view that names had no meaning dominated. In today's research, this thesis is considered outdated. Names are considered to be the words with the greatest possible meaning. Outside of science, however, the traditional view has held up to this day, although it is a relic of scholasticism .

credentials

  1. ↑ John Stuart Mill : A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive. Being a connected View of the Principles of Evidence, and Methods of Scientific Investigation. JW Parker, London 1843.
  2. ↑ Otto Jespersen : The Philosophy of Grammar. Reprinted edition. Allen & Unwin, London 1963.
  3. ↑ Ernst Hansack: The essence of the name. In: Andrea Brendler, Silvio Brendler (ed.): Types of names and their research. A textbook for the study of onomastics. On the occasion of Karlheinz Hengst's 70th birthday (= textbooks and handbooks on onomastics. Vol. 1). Baar, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-935536-70-4 , pp. 51-65.