On Denoting
E2508
"On Denoting" is a seminal 1905 philosophical essay by Bertrand Russell that introduced his influential theory of descriptions and reshaped analytic philosophy of language.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| On Denoting canonical | 3 |
| theory of descriptions | 1 |
| “On Denoting” by Bertrand Russell | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T32486 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On Denoting Context triple: [Bertrand Russell, notableWork, On Denoting]
-
A.
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax is a seminal 1965 book by linguist Noam Chomsky that helped establish generative grammar as a central framework in theoretical linguistics.
-
B.
Syntactic Structures
Syntactic Structures is a landmark 1957 book by linguist Noam Chomsky that revolutionized the study of language by introducing generative grammar and challenging behaviorist views of linguistics.
-
C.
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, and social critic, renowned for his foundational work in analytic philosophy and contributions to logic, mathematics, and political thought.
-
D.
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society is a long-running scholarly journal that publishes monographic studies and research across a wide range of academic disciplines.
-
E.
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society is a long-running scholarly journal featuring research articles, historical studies, and papers presented under the auspices of the American Philosophical Society.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On Denoting Target entity description: "On Denoting" is a seminal 1905 philosophical essay by Bertrand Russell that introduced his influential theory of descriptions and reshaped analytic philosophy of language.
-
A.
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax is a seminal 1965 book by linguist Noam Chomsky that helped establish generative grammar as a central framework in theoretical linguistics.
-
B.
Syntactic Structures
Syntactic Structures is a landmark 1957 book by linguist Noam Chomsky that revolutionized the study of language by introducing generative grammar and challenging behaviorist views of linguistics.
-
C.
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, and social critic, renowned for his foundational work in analytic philosophy and contributions to logic, mathematics, and political thought.
-
D.
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society is a long-running scholarly journal that publishes monographic studies and research across a wide range of academic disciplines.
-
E.
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society is a long-running scholarly journal featuring research articles, historical studies, and papers presented under the auspices of the American Philosophical Society.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
academic article
ⓘ
philosophical essay ⓘ |
| addresses |
logical form of definite descriptions
ⓘ
problem of non-referring expressions ⓘ relationship between language and reality ⓘ |
| author | Bertrand Russell ⓘ |
| centralClaim |
apparent reference to non-existent objects can be eliminated by logical analysis
ⓘ
denoting phrases can be analyzed away in logical form ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| datePublished | 1905-10 ⓘ |
| describedAs |
foundational work in philosophy of language
ⓘ
seminal essay in analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| exampleUsed | The present King of France is bald ⓘ |
| field |
analytic philosophy
ⓘ
philosophy of language ⓘ |
| genre | philosophical logic ⓘ |
| hasImpactOn |
formal semantics
ⓘ
linguistics ⓘ logic ⓘ metaphysics ⓘ |
| hasReprintIn |
Logic and Knowledge
ⓘ
Russell: Philosophical Essays ⓘ various anthologies of analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| influenced |
Bertrand Russell's later work in logic
ⓘ
Ludwig Wittgenstein ⓘ P. F. Strawson ⓘ Rudolf Carnap ⓘ Willard Van Orman Quine ⓘ
surface form:
W. V. O. Quine
analytic philosophy ⓘ logical positivism ⓘ ordinary language philosophy ⓘ philosophy of language in the 20th century ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
definite descriptions
ⓘ
denoting phrases ⓘ indefinite descriptions ⓘ logical analysis of language ⓘ theory of descriptions ⓘ |
| notableFor |
formulation of Russell's theory of descriptions
ⓘ
influence on subsequent debates about reference and meaning ⓘ method of logical analysis of ordinary language ⓘ |
| pageRange | 479–493 ⓘ |
| philosophicalMovement | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | Anglo-American analytic tradition ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1905 ⓘ |
| publishedIn | Mind ⓘ |
| publishedInVolume | Mind, New Series, Vol. 14 ⓘ |
| timePeriod | early 20th century ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: On Denoting Description of subject: "On Denoting" is a seminal 1905 philosophical essay by Bertrand Russell that introduced his influential theory of descriptions and reshaped analytic philosophy of language.
Referenced by (5)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
theory of descriptions
subject surface form:
Bertrand Russell
subject surface form:
Mind
this entity surface form:
“On Denoting” by Bertrand Russell