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    If two names share the same referent, they share the same... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Two co-referential names can differ in content

    If two names share the same referent, they share the same semantic content, and apparent cognitive differences reflect psychology, not semantics.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Semantic content determines truth conditions; if names pick out the same object, their sentences have identical truth conditions.
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    • 2.Psychological differences (like familiarity or recognition) are features of language users, not properties of linguistic meanings themselves.
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    • 3.Appealing to cognitive differences to explain semantic differences conflates use with meaning and makes semantics subjective.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Frege's puzzle: 'Hesperus is Phosphorus' feels informative while 'Hesperus is Hesperus' is trivial, suggesting cognitive content differs semantically.
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    • 2.A competent speaker can know the referent of both names yet rationally withhold judgment on identity, showing semantic content divides from reference.
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    • 3.Meaning includes 'modes of presentation'—how we grasp referents—which can differ even when referents are identical.
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    A competent speaker can know the referent of both names yet rationally withhold ...Appealing to cognitive differences to explain semantic differences conflates use...Frege's puzzle: 'Hesperus is Phosphorus' feels informative while 'Hesperus is He...Meaning includes 'modes of presentation'—how we grasp referents—which can differ...
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    Psychological differences (like familiarity or recognition) are features of lang...Semantic content determines truth conditions; if names pick out the same object,...Two co-referential names can differ in content

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