Names and predicates

Rohls, Felix Nicolai (2026): Names and predicates: a critique of predicativism. Dissertation, LMU München: Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is two-fold. First, we intend to offer a systematic and comprehensive critique of predicativism, defined as the view that proper names are metalinguistic predicates: according to the most common versions of predicativism, a name 'N' simply expresses the metalinguistic property of being a bearer of the name 'N'. The second objective - closely intertwined with the first - is to develop a detailed morphosyntactic and semantic/pragmatic account of predicative name-uses, as in 'I know two Katherines' ('I know two bearers of the name 'Katherine'') or 'The National Gallery owns to Leonardos' ('The National Gallery owns two paintings by Leonardo'); in this context, we distinguish predicative uses of names as count nouns, mass nouns, adjectives, and verbs. The two objectives lead us to defend a version of the 'type-ambiguity view', according to which names are primarily used as singular terms that refer to their bearers, and only secondarily as predicates to convey metalinguistic or non-metalinguistic properties or relations.

• Dokumententyp: Dissertationen (Dissertation, LMU München)
• Keywords: Names, Predicativism, Predicative Name-Uses, Labelling Constructions
• Themengebiete: 100 Philosophie und Psychologie ; 100 Philosophie und Psychologie > 190 Moderne westliche Philosophie
• Fakultäten: Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft
• Sprache der Hochschulschrift: Englisch
• Datum der mündlichen Prüfung: 9. Februar 2026
• 1. Bericht­erstatter:in: Leitgeb, Hannes