Definite Descriptions, Demonstratives and Their Uses

Abstract

 In answering the challenge Donnellan has set for Russellians in explaining referential uses of definite descriptions, Russellians have appealed to the distinction between speaker’s meaning and semantic meaning. Assuming that, unlike definite descriptions, demonstratives can only be used referentially, I defend the claim that even in their case we can distinguish semantic from speaker’s meaning. I explain how the distinction can be applied to the cases of complex and bare demonstratives. The distinction partly depends on distinguishing the referential intentions that complete the demonstrative from intentions that are primarily communicative.