This paper is a reply to some of Scott Soames' comments on my colloqui
um paper ''Marcus, Kripke, and the Origin of the New Theory of Referen
ce''. Except for the indicated parts added in May, 1995, this paper wa
s written on December 16th-25th, 1994 as my reply to Soames for the AP
A colloquium in Boston, December 28, 1994. In this paper, I argue that
Soames' contention that Marcus is not one of the ''primary founders o
f contemporary nondescriptivist theories of reference'' is false. Soam
es presents numerous arguments for his thesis that Marcus did not orig
inate ideas later elaborated upon by Kripke, but his arguments are uns
ound; they are based in part on a misunderstanding of Marcus' theory a
nd in part on an inadequate grasp of some of the key notions of the Ne
w Theory of Reference, such as the notion of a posteriori necessities
and the notion of reference-fixing descriptions.