[174] The Varieties of Reference By Gareth Evans

Ai generated. Human edited. Introduction and summary of "The Varieties of Reference" By Gareth Evans 1982

Evans' book The Varieties of Reference (1982) was unfinished at the time of his death. The introduction and first two chapters being rewritten by him in the last months of his life.[8] It was edited for publication, and supplemented with appendices drawn from his notes, by McDowell. It has subsequently been influential in both philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. Its central chapters have, according to Martin Davies, had "a profound influence on subsequent work in philosophy of psychology, particularly concerning the perception and representation of space, and more generally the conditions for an objective conception of a spatial world."

Covering the work of Frege, Russell, and more recent work on singular reference, this important book examines the concepts of perceptually-based demonstrative identification, thought about oneself, and recognition-based demonstrative identification.

The discussion in this book range over all the main kinds of referring expressions, starting with the work of Frege and Russell on singular reference. The work is guided by the view that an understanding of how singular thoughts relate to objects is essential for a proper treatment of the linguistic device by which such thoughts are expressed. It will be of interest to psychologist and philosophers of mind as well as to philosophers of language and linguists.