김진웅, ｢언어, 철학 그리고 지시의 계보학 -Barbara Abbott(2010), Reference-｣, 언어사실과 관점 53, 2021.5.

Abstract

In this article, I’m going to cover a book called Reference, which Barbara Abbott released to the world in 2010 as the second volume of Oxford Surveys in Semantics and Pragmatics. As far as I can remember, this book is an introductory book with the highest accessibility, that is, readability, on the subject of reference, and also a specialized book that can enhance understanding of ongoing studies. The biggest advantage of this book is that the use of symbols and operations are reduced to a minimum even though the subject of formal semantics is dealt with. Another interesting feature of this book is that it aims for a historical approach to reference. It traces the flow of research by repeatedly identifying how the key arguments of the three scholars, Mill, Frege, and Russell, influenced later research. Abbott strongly asserts her position on reference throughout the book. It is argued that individual concepts, a function or variable from a possible situation to an individual, are the most explanatory theory.