# Vivid designator

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{{Short description|Concept in the philosophy of language}}
In [modal logic](/source/modal_logic) and the [philosophy of language](/source/philosophy_of_language), a '''vivid designator''' is a term which is ''believed'' to designate the same thing in all [possible world](/source/possible_world)s<ref name="quine">Quine, W.V.O., ''Quintessence: Intensions Revisited'', 2004, pp. 356–357</ref> and nothing else where such an object does not exist in a possible world. It is the analogue, in the sense of believing, of a [rigid designator](/source/rigid_designator),<ref>D. Kaplan, ''Quantifying In'', 1969</ref> which ''is'' ([refers to](/source/Reference)) the same in all possible worlds, rather than is just ''believed'' to be so.

== Willard Van Orman Quine ==
[Willard Van Orman Quine](/source/Willard_Van_Orman_Quine) credits [David Kaplan](/source/David_Kaplan_(philosopher)) (who in turn credits [Montgomery Furth](/source/Montgomery_Furth)) for the term "vivid designator" in his 1977 paper "Intensions Revisited". He examines the separation between [''de re'' and ''de dicto''](/source/De_dicto_and_de_re) and does away with ''de re'' statements, because ''de re'' statements can only work for names that are used [referentially](/source/Reference).<ref>Andrea Bonomi, ''On Quine: Transparency and Specificity in Intentional Contexts'', 1995, p. 183.</ref> In fact, both [rigid designators](/source/rigid_designators) and vivid designators are similarly dependent on context and empty otherwise.  The same is true of the whole [quantified](/source/Quantification_(logic)) [modal logic](/source/modal_logic) of necessity because it collapses if [essence](/source/essence) is withdrawn.<ref>Quine, W.V.O., ''Quintessence: Intensions Revisited'', 2004, pp. 356–357.</ref>

== See also ==
*''[Naming and Necessity](/source/Naming_and_Necessity)''
*[Rigid designator](/source/Rigid_designator)
*[Non-rigid designator](/source/Non-rigid_designator)
*[Scientific essentialism](/source/Scientific_essentialism)

== References ==
<references/>

Category:Possible world
Category:Philosophy of language
Category:Semantics
Category:Formal semantics (natural language)

{{formal semantics}}
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vivid designator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivid_designator) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivid_designator?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.