"That country over there" might count as a definite description; "some country over there" never will. Even if you try to twist the context to make it so. — Banno
"A country bordering Greece" might well be sufficient. despite not being a definite description.
Now, since the question has a correct answer, then the question must have referred to something. That is, the question is clearly about Albania, and hence a correct answer will also be about Albania.
Again, you are just wrong. — Banno
Cool. Let's do that. — frank
Let 'A' name a particular pain sensation, and let 'B' name
the corresponding brain state, or the brain state some identity
theorist wishes to identify with A. Prima facie, it would seem
that it is at least logically possible that B should have existed
Oones's brain could have been in exactly that state at the time
in question) without Jones feeling any pain at all, and thus
without the presence of A. (p.146)
Anyway you are pedantically focusing on a point which is of little consequence instead of addressing the more difficult objections to your view. — Janus
I do not think that "feeling pain" and "brain state" point to the same thing, do they? — creativesoul
"The country called Albania, which borders Greece" is a definite description by your own definition. — Janus
"The country called Albania, which borders Greece" is a definite description by your own definition. — Janus
It is also a rigid designator — Janus
whereas 'Albania' by itself is not a rigid designator except in principle, because it could be the name of a country, a person, a pet, a type of vacuum cleaner and so on and on. — Janus
"The country called Albania, which borders Greece" is a definite description by your own definition. — Janus
This is a definite description, yes. The same thing, replacing the with a, is not. That would be an indefinite description. The way in which indefinite descriptions refer, if indeed they do, is different, and not at issue here. — Snakes Alive
It is not a rigid designator, since in another possible world, another country, besides the actual Albania, could be called Albania and border Greece. — Snakes Alive
The issue is not what a name could refer to. Being a rigid designator has nothing to do with the alternate ways the language could have been, so that the meaning of the word changes. The point is that the meaning of the word, as it is now, is such that it, as it is actually used, picks out the same individual relative to every world. — Snakes Alive
'A country called Albania which borders Greece' is a definite description because there is only one of them; the logic is obvious. — Janus
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