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In discussing the distinctions made by ordinary lan- guage and the operation of naming, John Stuart Mill 1806-73 arguably became the first modern thinker who developed a theory of meaning. Central to Mill's theory of meaning is the concept of name and the operation of naming. In Mill's view logic is concerned with the methods by which data are organized. The most fundamental of these methods is the operation of naming. Names, he holds, are names of things and clues to the things. In constructing a general logic one must start by recognizing the distinctions made by
ordinary language.
1. Mill'sDivisionofNames
Mill divides words into two classes: those which can stand by themselves as names of things, and those which are only parts of names. While Heloise, white- ness, the wife of Abelard, logician belong to the first class; //, often, and belong to the second one. Some- times Mill defines a name as any expression which may occur as subject or predicate. Sometimes he defines a name as any expression which may occur as subject. According to the first definition, adjectives are names; according to the second they are not. Mill solves this conflict by assuming that adjectives are used ellip- tically. He holds that there isno difference in meaning between round and round object. Adjectives in their full form can appear as subject, although in their elliptical form they can appear only as predicates. Names are, subsequently, subdivided between
abstract names and concrete names. A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing, an abstract name is the name of an attribute of things. Heloise, the wife of Abelard, logician are concrete names, whiteness, consistency are abstract names. For Mill, concrete names fall into two categories, general names and individual names. A general name is a name which can be applied in the same sense to an indefinite number of things. For instance, woman can be applied in the same sense to Heloise, Mary, etc. One applies these names to all these persons because they share some attributes and with this application it is asserted that they possess those attributes. An individual name is a name that can be applied in the same sense to only one person. Heloise can be applied in the same sense only to one person. Though there may be many per- sons who bear this name, it is not applied to them because they have some property in common. Mill, it will be observed, distinguishes between sorts of indi- vidual terms: proper names and many-worded names, in the language of later philosophers, 'descriptions.' Two of Mill's examples of a many-worded name are the author of the Iliad and the present prime minister of England. He points out that, though it is con- ceivable that more than one person might have written the Iliad, the use of the article the implies that this was not the case. With regard to the other example, he points out that the application of 'prime minister of England' being limited by the article and the adjective present, to such individuals as possess the attributes
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