The same (as what?)

Abstract

This paper adopts a radical contextualist approach to the reference of definite descriptions that contain the English expression the same, either without a complement or with a complement in the form of a head noun and/or a comparison phrase of the type as X. It is argued that definite descriptions which contain the same do not refer to a unique entity, despite the fact that the result of a comprehension test carried out seems to give some support to the belief that such descriptions may serve the function of a directly referring term.