ON TWO INTERPRETATIONS OF DEFINITE DESCRIPTIONS

The subject of the paper is the problem of interpretation of definite descriptions in sentences containing a definite description and a singular term. I argue that, in such contexts, definite descriptions can be interpreted, in the light of the Russellian analysis, in two ways: as singular terms and as individuating predicates. These interpretations demand to interpret the sentence copula as expressing the identity or the subject-predicate relation respectively. I criticize V. Surovtsev's claim that, in contexts specified, definite descriptions allow for the first interpretation only.