Introduction: Proper Names and Modes of Existence

Abstract

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26333/sts.xxxvi1.01

This special issue of Semiotic Studies is devoted to proper names, and continues to some extent the line of research discussed in the contributions to the special issue of Organon F, 28(1), on names and fictions. Modes of existence of proper names pose interesting challenges and research problems for semiotics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of literature. Contributions to this issue concentrate mainly on fictional names, fictional discourse, and narrative fiction, but also on empty names, descriptive names, and names of institutions. The authors employ and compare different theoretical approaches, and the discussion may have important consequences for theories of meaning and reference, and for ontology.