严格指示词、自然种类名与人类语言  

Rigid Designator,Natural Kind Terms and Human Language

作　　者：郭喨[1,2] GUO Liang(School of Marxism,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou,Zhejiang,310058;Center for Science,Technology and Law,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou,Zhejiang,310008)

机构地区：[1]浙江大学马克思主义学院,浙江杭州310058 [2]浙江大学科技与法律研究中心,浙江杭州310008

出　　处：《自然辩证法通讯》2023年第9期56-64,共9页Journal of Dialectics of Nature

摘　　要：指称是科学哲学的核心议题。考察了黄金、食盐、水等常见自然种类名的指称,“摹状词”理论与“历史-因果”理论在此存在重要差异。“历史-因果”理论是本质主义的:“科学共识”所确定的自然种类“内在结构”具有逻辑必然性,“内在结构”决定了自然种类的本质。然而“内在结构”会随着科学进步被不断“重新发现”,新发现表明水、食盐都不符合“严格指示词”的预设,这动摇了其理论基础。指称取决于人类语言的基本特征与运作规律:“社会建构”是人类语言的本质属性,信息的有效编码、高效传递是人类语言的终极目标。自然种类名是一种可以汇聚旧识、容纳新知的“约定”,而无需“一种永恒不变的结构或本质”之承诺。Reference is the core issue of philosophy of science.Examining the reference of common natural kind terms such as gold,salt and water,it reveals that important differences between the"theory of descriptions"and the"causal-historical theory of reference"exist.The"causal-historical theory"is essentialist:the"internal structure"of natural kinds determined by"scientific consensus"'has logical necessity,thus determining the essence of natural kinds.However,new scientific findings show that both water and salt do not fit the theoretical presupposition of"rigid designator",and that the"causal-historical theory"fails in referring to natural kinds.In fact,the essential property of human language is its"social construction",and human language serves the ultimate goal of effective encoding and transmission of information.Therefore,language needs only to be"satisfactorily precise"'.The term of a natural kind is a socially constructed"convention"that does not promise an epistemically immutable structure or"essence",but rather satisfactorily aggregates and conveys existing human perceptions,while reserving the interface for new discoveries.

关 键 词：指称 摹状词 当代科学认识论 适应器 社会建构 

分 类 号：B017[哲学宗教—哲学理论] H0-0[语言文字—语言学]