Descriptively Introduced Names

Nineteenth-century astronomer Leverrier discovers unexplained perturbations in the orbit of Uranus. He hypothesizes that there is a planet causing these perturbations—a planet yet to be identified telescopically. He introduces the name ‘Neptune’ into the language by stipulating that ‘Neptune’ refers to the planet hypothesized to be causing the perturbations in question. Philosopher of language Gareth Evans (1979, 1982) is interested in theorizing about names like ‘Neptune’—names introduced into the language by way of stipulative acts of descriptive reference-fixing. He wants an example of his own and so introduces the name ‘Julius’ by stipulating that ‘Julius’ refers to whoever it was that invented the zipper.