The view that proper names simply stand for, or denote, individuals without describing them in any way by philosophers such as J. S. Mill, Russell, and S. Kripke. The contrary view is that proper names are equivalent to (or have the same meqaning as ) a definite description or a cluster of definite descriptions: il. E. That “Aristotle was a student of Plato” is equivalent to “The teacher of Alexander was a student of Plato”, or in the cluster version “The individual who was most of the following -- teacher of Alexander, born in Stagira, wrote the Metaphysics, etc. , was a student of Plato”. Proper names, as understood in Mill or Russell’s manner are sometimes also called “logically proper names” or “rigid designators. ”