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19. Language / B. Reference / 3. Direct Reference / c. Social reference

[reference fixed by persons beyond the speaker]

12 ideas
For the correct reference of complex ideas, we can only refer to experts [Locke]
A word's meaning is the thing conceived, as fixed by linguistic experts [Reid]
Reference is mainly a social phenomenon [Strawson,P, by Sainsbury]
We need to recognise the contribution of society and of the world in determining reference [Putnam]
Maybe the total mental state of a language community fixes the reference of a term [Putnam]
Neither individual nor community mental states fix reference [Putnam]
Reference (say to 'elms') is a social phenomenon which we can leave to experts [Putnam]
Aristotle implies that we have the complete concepts of a language in our heads, but we don't [Putnam]
Kripke makes reference a largely social matter, external to the mind of the speaker [Kripke, by McGinn]
Kripke's theory is important because it gives a collective account of reference [Kripke, by Putnam]
We refer through the community, going back to the original referent [Kripke]
A description may fix a reference even when it is not true of its object [Kripke]