Descriptivism about Reference
A name refers to the object satisfying the descriptions associated with it by the speaker.
What it claims
Descriptivism holds that a speaker's descriptions determine what a proper name or natural-kind term refers to. Reference depends on which object satisfies the associated definite description or cluster of descriptions. It rejects a picture on which names reach objects directly without identifying information.
Nearby positions
Goes together with
Key thinkers
Gottlob Frege · Bertrand Russell · John Searle · P. F. Strawson · Rudolf Carnap