The Recategorization of the Meaning of Names——Based on Prototype Theory

The issue as to whether names are meaningful is quite controversial.Some philosophers hold that a name,be it a proper name or a general name,has meaning,which equals to a group of descriptions about the entity it refers to;while others argue that both proper names and natural kind terms are meaningless,because they are rigid designators,which are different from descriptions as non-rigid designators.A name's referent is fixed by an original act of naming,and the later uses of the name succeed in referring to the referent by being linked to that original act via a causal chain.This paper analyzes the issue from a cognitive perspective,holding that meaning stems from concept.Whether a name is meaningful or not depends on whether it can conjure a concept.From this point of view,general names are meaningful,while proper names can be meaningful or meaningless,because the members of the category of proper name vary from one to another in terms of conceptualization.