6

In "Unrestricted Exportation and Some Morals for the Philosophy of Language", Kripke discusses unrestricted exportation in relation to the de dicto / de re distinction. In this paper he cites a few papers that also deal with (or are at least pertinent to) the subject such as Russell's "On Denoting', Quine's "Quantifier's and Propositional Attitudes, Dennett's "Beyond Belief", and Sosa's "Quantifiers, Beliefs, Sellars".

Is there a contemporary survey that covers the literature on exportation (in general or why unrestricted exportation is a problem) in the context of the de dicto / de re distinction and it's larger place in the philosophy of language? Or, at the very least, is there a comprehensive bibliography in place of such a reference?

Not_Here
  • 2,831
  • 1
  • 19
  • 40
  • 2
    I guess that if the specific question of unrestricted exportation is too specific of a question to have a lot of literature on it besides the handful of papers related to what I've mentioned, then I'd also be interested in a contemporary survey of the *de dicto / de re distinction* (modal, belief, and attitude report) and the issues associated with it. – Not_Here Jul 02 '17 at 10:07
  • 2
    I think "quantifying into modal contexts" is used more often than "exportation". I am not aware of a survey you are looking for, but Tuboly's recent historical sketch [Quine and Quantified Modal Logic](http://real.mtak.hu/34394) might be of interest on how Kripke's view of modal quantification and de dicto/de re emerged out of polemic with Quine, and what issues it still faces. He does cite a number of authors who participate(d) in the debates. – Conifold Jul 03 '17 at 23:22

1 Answers1

1

Try Jaakko Hintikka and Gabriel Sandu, 'The Fallacies of the New Theory of Reference', Synthese, Vol. 104, No. 2 (Aug., 1995), pp. 245-283.

ABSTRACT. The so-called New Theory of Reference (Marcus, Kripke etc.) is inspired by the insight that in modal and intensional contexts quantifiers presuppose nondescriptive unanalyzable identity criteria which do not reduce to any descriptive conditions. From this valid insight the New Theorists fallaciously move to the idea that free singular terms can exhibit a built-in direct reference and that there is even a special class of singular terms (proper names) necessarily exhibiting direct reference. This fallacious move has been encouraged by a mistaken belief in the substitutional interpretation of quantifiers, by the myth of the de re reference, and a mistaken assimilation of "direct reference" to ostensive (perspectival) identification. The de dicto vs. de re contrast does not involve direct reference, being merely a matter of rule-ordering ("scope"). The New Theorists' thesis of the necessity of identities of directly referred-to individuals is a consequence of an unmotivated and arbitrary restriction they tacitly impose on the identification of individuals.

It's a long, critical paper but its criticisms are worth consideration. You should be able to tell from the Abstract whether the paper is likely to be of help regarding your particular concerns.

Geoffrey Thomas
  • 35,303
  • 4
  • 40
  • 143
  • Thank you very much for the reference my friend, I will check it out as soon as I can. I meant to come back and possibly rephrase this question; originally I was trying to find something like a reading list, not necessarily for the subject of quantifying in or even intensional semantics as a whole but, just for the specific unrestricted exportation arguments, or possibly even focusing on the shortest spy argument. But the deeper I got into the literature the harder my specific interest was to cleave from the subject as a whole. Or at any rate that's my remembrance of what I thought at the time – Not_Here Mar 13 '18 at 00:19
  • Would you mind if I sent you an email asking a specific question about this topic? – Not_Here Mar 13 '18 at 00:23
  • Not_Here. Write, certainly, though I am not at all an expert in these matters.. I noticed that your question had gone long unanswered and thought that I could at least send a relevant reference. – Geoffrey Thomas Mar 13 '18 at 08:55