We argue that the view that kind terms designate universals does not fall prey to the trivialization problem. We also argue that the view can respond to other challenges, specifically, the claims that an adequate notion of rigidity for kind terms must: (a) classify natural kind terms as rigid and classify many other general terms as non-rigid and (b) account for the necessity of true theoretical identifications involving rigid terms.

The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the change of perspective that led a substantial number of philosophers of language away from the traditional descriptivist approach, and to examine the new theory that emerges from that change of perspective as well as some of the challenges the new theory faces.