Can I read Aristotle on Proper Names on EtoBox?

Aristotle on Proper Names by Eugene E. Ryan is a Arts and Humanities article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Aristotle on Proper Names about?

The assumption made by some commentators that Aristotle overlooked or was indifferent to the distinction between proper names and other names (or nouns) is, I believe, both misleading and unfounded. One commentator who makes this assumption is Ackrill; he attributes to "the rather primitive nature of Aristotle's view of meaning" that he should hold that "'Philo' and 'man' are names of different sorts of things but are both just names." 1 Again, in commenting on the lines in the de Interpretatione, ch.2, "For in 'Whitfield' the 'field' does not signify anything in its own right," he asserts: "It is a pity that Aristotle introduces a proper name (represented by 'Whitfield') as an example of a compound. Proper names clearly require special treatment." 2 Though he does not say so, what seems to lie behind AckrilFs complaint is the fact that while the de Int. is the sort of work where we might have expected to find a special treatment of PN's, one based on a view of meaning sophisticated enough to take into account the difference between PN's and other nouns, no such treatment is to be found there. Now if in fact Aristotle had overlooked or been indifferent to the special characteristic

Who reads Aristotle on Proper Names?

Author

Eugene E. Ryan

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH

Published

1981

Field

Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)