“Understanding Demonstratives”
E446855
“Understanding Demonstratives” is a highly influential philosophical paper by Gareth Evans that analyzes how demonstrative expressions (like “this” and “that”) refer to objects in perception and thought.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| “Understanding Demonstratives” canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4492812 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: “Understanding Demonstratives” Context triple: [Gareth Evans, notableWork, “Understanding Demonstratives”]
-
A.
On Sense and Reference
On Sense and Reference is a seminal philosophical essay by Gottlob Frege that distinguishes between the sense (meaning) and reference (denotation) of linguistic expressions, profoundly influencing analytic philosophy and the philosophy of language.
-
B.
On Denoting
"On Denoting" is a seminal 1905 philosophical essay by Bertrand Russell that introduced his influential theory of descriptions and reshaped analytic philosophy of language.
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C.
Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis
"Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis" is a philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that examines how reference, naming, and abstract entities arise within our linguistic and conceptual frameworks.
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D.
essay "Notes on the Theory of Reference"
"Notes on the Theory of Reference" is a seminal philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that challenges traditional notions of meaning and reference within analytic philosophy and logic.
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E.
essay "Reference and Modality"
"Reference and Modality" is a seminal philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that critically examines the notions of reference, necessity, and modal logic within analytic philosophy.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: “Understanding Demonstratives” Target entity description: “Understanding Demonstratives” is a highly influential philosophical paper by Gareth Evans that analyzes how demonstrative expressions (like “this” and “that”) refer to objects in perception and thought.
-
A.
On Sense and Reference
On Sense and Reference is a seminal philosophical essay by Gottlob Frege that distinguishes between the sense (meaning) and reference (denotation) of linguistic expressions, profoundly influencing analytic philosophy and the philosophy of language.
-
B.
On Denoting
"On Denoting" is a seminal 1905 philosophical essay by Bertrand Russell that introduced his influential theory of descriptions and reshaped analytic philosophy of language.
-
C.
Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis
"Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis" is a philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that examines how reference, naming, and abstract entities arise within our linguistic and conceptual frameworks.
-
D.
essay "Notes on the Theory of Reference"
"Notes on the Theory of Reference" is a seminal philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that challenges traditional notions of meaning and reference within analytic philosophy and logic.
-
E.
essay "Reference and Modality"
"Reference and Modality" is a seminal philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that critically examines the notions of reference, necessity, and modal logic within analytic philosophy.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
journal article
ⓘ
philosophical paper ⓘ |
| addresses |
how speakers can fail to refer with a demonstrative
ⓘ
how speakers can refer to objects they are perceiving ⓘ the cognitive significance of demonstrative thoughts ⓘ |
| analyzes | demonstrative expressions such as "this" and "that" ⓘ |
| argues | that successful demonstrative reference requires an informational connection to the object ⓘ |
| arguesAgainst | purely descriptive accounts of demonstratives ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Russellian propositions
ⓘ
direct reference theory ⓘ |
| author | Gareth Evans ⓘ |
| citationStatus | highly influential in philosophy of language ⓘ |
| concerns |
epistemology of perception and reference
ⓘ
pragmatics of demonstratives ⓘ semantics of demonstratives ⓘ |
| contributesTo |
the debate over direct reference vs descriptive theories
ⓘ
the theory of singular thought ⓘ |
| discusses |
the difference between demonstratives and proper names
ⓘ
the relation between demonstratives and mental states ⓘ the role of context in fixing reference ⓘ the role of information links in reference ⓘ the role of perceptual links in reference ⓘ |
| distinguishes | linguistic meaning of demonstratives from their referential use ⓘ |
| field |
analytic philosophy
ⓘ
philosophy of mind ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
how demonstratives refer to objects in perception
ⓘ
how demonstratives refer to objects in thought ⓘ |
| hasAuthor | Gareth Evans ⓘ |
| influenced |
contemporary philosophy of language
ⓘ
subsequent work on demonstratives ⓘ subsequent work on indexicals ⓘ |
| keyConcept |
context-dependence of demonstratives
ⓘ
demonstrative thought ⓘ information-based account of reference ⓘ non-perceptual demonstratives ⓘ perceptual demonstratives ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
demonstratives
ⓘ
perception ⓘ philosophy of language ⓘ reference ⓘ thought ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | analytic tradition ⓘ |
| proposes | a theory of demonstrative reference ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Gareth Evans's book "The Varieties of Reference"
ⓘ
linked to:
The Varieties of Reference
|
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: “Understanding Demonstratives” Description of subject: “Understanding Demonstratives” is a highly influential philosophical paper by Gareth Evans that analyzes how demonstrative expressions (like “this” and “that”) refer to objects in perception and thought.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.