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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260317T000418Z
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250522T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250522T190000
SUMMARY:Bringing the curtain down on the causal theory of reference: A truly better picture of the semantics of proper names
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DESCRIPTION:The next meeting of the Sign-Language-Reality seminar in the academic year 2024/25 will take place:\n&nbsp\;\nThursday\, the 22nd of May 2025\, 17.00\, Central European Time\n&nbsp\;\n<p><strong>Jakub Rudnicki</strong></p>\n<p><strong>(University of Grenoble)</strong></p>\n&nbsp\;\nwill deliver a talk:\n&nbsp\;\n<p><em>Bringing the curtain down on the causal theory of reference: A truly better picture of the semantics of proper names</em></p>\n&nbsp\;\nAbstract:\nSince Kripke&rsquo\;s demolition of descriptivism\, the causal theory&mdash\;assembled from his<br>brief &ldquo\;better picture&rdquo\; remarks&mdash\;has become the dominant account of the semantics<br>of proper names and remains so today. I argue that this dominance is<br>unfortunate. I advance three arguments against the theory. First\, the chains<br>that play its central explanatory role are often not genuinely causal\, which<br>means the theory cannot satisfy basic naturalistic standards\; it must either<br>posit action at a distance or invoke referential properties that are not<br>reducible to physical ones. The second argument shows that an appropriate causal<br>connection between a name token and its bearer is not sufficient to establish<br>reference. The third argument&mdash\;generalizing the point already established by the<br>first&mdash\;demonstrates that such causation is not even necessary. Throughout the<br>paper I observe that\, whenever the causal theory encounters difficulty\, it<br>retreats from purely causal considerations and instead appeals to social or<br>conventional facts about name use. This pattern motivates my concluding<br>suggestion: the causal theory should be supplanted by an account on which the<br>reference of proper names is fixed by convention alone. I end the paper with a<br>brief sketch of a truly better convention based picture\n&nbsp\;\nThe seminar will be held online\, to join the meeting\, please use the information below:\nJoin Zoom Meeting <a rel="nofollowdata-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://uw-edu-pl.zoom.us/j/92716044372?pwd%3D0l7PETAOwqQDBKTMCnheYQN7ag7zx1.1%26fbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0ZwXRP5VxhaNoPHpOStUm_f3KBL17YHhy9GPpTl3oUQDsUIKYYCwnqfzk_aem_Lnptm-YP3pL8i3bZ6pvP3Q&amp\;source=gmail&amp\;ust=1747047901326000&amp\;usg=AOvVaw1M57uniYIGUpWwd4zrgI_v">https://uw-edu-pl.zoom.us/j/92716044372...</a>\nMeeting ID: 927 1604 4372 Passcode: 697648\n&nbsp\;\nThe meeting opens at 4:45 pm\, the talk starts at 5 pm.\n&nbsp\;\n<a rel="nofollowdata-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.pts.edu.pl%252Fseminarium%253Ffbclid%253DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0ZwXRP5VxhaNoPHpOStUm_f3KBL17YHhy9GPpTl3oUQDsUIKYYCwnqfzk_aem_Lnptm-YP3pL8i3bZ6pvP3Q%26h%3DAT2jWmk6I0D8pdG0Pj30tgSnQw37LwOyNS-y35-KCIonRIR81U5SN8qwvywwj0QMxHfV0hW7cuLhpucf61sRuwerndZKKL9lLS10sxfP-dujtsZ6Ki6jF7BWT5Sx4tYAafLgk2JSYuX5liIwrg%26__tn__%3Dq%26c%5B0%5D%3DAT0NxTVKY9UsOut8hWbiRH9Vaq8yUi26kNVaBlqjF-3Q-W536YAIotgIBxtqaVtG888C7WJtIEhZhXe4KpFAhSnsDonxzrbZY8SidLtdWSfreggHuKv4_hMeeZ56ksx9lSw&amp\;source=gmail&amp\;ust=1747047901326000&amp\;usg=AOvVaw0WV1WYVy70rFqYf8iQv8NP">https://www.pts.edu.pl/seminarium</a>
ORGANIZER;CN=Tadeusz Ciecierski:
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