ABSTRACT
Bertrand Russell parsed the meaning of definite descriptions, including proper names, in terms of predicates, which was a great inversion from John Locke for whom predicates function like names. For Russell, after analysis, a proper name is reduced to a set of predicates or descriptions that are hitched up to quantifiers and variables which range over, in an indefinite way, a domain of objects. The descriptions list a set of properties that have to apply to a thing in the domain of objects if the name is to have a reference. Saul Kripke highlights three, related problems that Russell’s theory faces: the problem of linguistic idealism, the problem of communication and the problem of illegitimate analytic truths. The cluster theory is an updated version of Russell’s original theory of descriptions which tries to deal with these problems while holding on to the core of Russell’s account.
