Andrew Botterell Knowledge by Acquaintance and Meaning in Isolation

The Meaning in Isolation Thesis features prominently in Russell’s writings on definite descriptions.1 In those writings Russell sets out to defend the view that definite descriptions “never have any meaning in themselves.” (Russell, 1905, pg. 42) He proceeds to say that a definite description “is essentially part of a sentence, and does not, like most single words, have any significance on its own account.” (Russell, 1905, pg. 51) The Meaning in Isolation Thesis is an attractive thesis about the nature and role of definite descriptions in natural language, and Russell provides a number of arguments in support of it. Despite its attractiveness, however, the thesis appears to lead to problems when it is conjoined with another plausible thesis, which I will call, for equally obvious reasons, the Non-Sentential Assertion Thesis: