On Donnellan’s Theory of Definite Descriptions

By Donnellan's account of definite descriptions, two uses are recognized: the denoting use and the referential use. When clarifying the relationship between the two uses, the current paper attempts to argue that to achieve the referential use does not amount to the effect that the language-related properties of definite descriptions determined by the constituent words and syntactic rules should be abandoned, and instead of being a denial of the basic meaning of a linguistic expression, the deviation caused by the referential use from the denoting one merely suggests that the effects of language use are produced by multiple factors. In addition, the semantic content revealed by the denoting use of a definite description is already complete and conveys a weak reference which is related to the world external to the language.