If a name refers to an object o, it refers to o with respect to every possible world in which o exists. The transcript was brought out originally in 1972 in semantics of natural language, edited by donald davidson and gilbert harman. If one expression is a rigid and another is not, they cannot mean the same thing. The prospect of a posteriori necessity also makes the distinction between a prioricity, analyticity, and necessity harder to discern because they were previously thought to be largely separated from the a posteriori, the synthetic, and the contingent. Furthermore, because of the use of tools involving reference and. Kripkes naming and necessity, nagels view from nowhere. Kripke s naming and necessity some theses of naming and necessity 1. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of naming, and of identity. Christopher hughes offers a careful exposition and critical analysis of kripke s central ideas about names, necessity, and identity.
In 1999, the university of haifa awarded saul kripke an honorary degree and hosted a conference in his honour. In his famous work naming and necessity, saul kripke presents an argument against the materialists identity theory of mind. Eric kripke was born on april 24, 1974 in toledo, ohio, usa. Click and collect from your local waterstones or get free uk delivery on orders over. Lecture notes introduction to philosophy of language linguistics. Kripke s life and the background to his philosophy. Naming and necessity by saul kripke was first published in book form in 1980 and consists mainly of three lectures given at princeton university, an overview, an essay on the problem of names, and.
For example, we take it to be the case that it is contingent that the first postmaster of the united states is identical with the inventor of bifocals i. Kripke claims that i and ii are selfevident theses of philosophical logic independent of natural language. Naming and necessity is a 1980 book with the transcript of three lectures, given by the philosopher saul kripke, at princeton university in 1970, in which he dealt with the debates of proper names in the philosophy of language. Arial times new roman symbol default design saul kripke, identity and necessity an apparent paradox the paradox with proper names identities in science rigid vs. The notion of rigid designation figures prominently in saul kripke s naming and necessity. This is the point of the discussion of kants idea that. The papers collected in this volume descend from that conference. Naming and necessity is among the most important philosophical works of the 20th century. Saul kripke, in full saul aaron kripke, born november, 1940, bay shore, long island, new york, u. Routledge philosophy guidebook to kripke and naming and necessity. I hope that some people see some connection between the two topics in the title.
This seminal work, to which todays thriving essentialist metaphysics largely owes its impetus, is here reissued in a newly corrected form with a new preface. Names, necessity, and identity, by christopher hughes. A descriptivist in disguise wesley hansen in his work, naming and necessity saul kripke argues against many previous philosophers, such as russell, who have offered a descriptivist account of language. While the mainstream theories of reference inspired by frege and russel are more sophisticated, they have numerous counterintuitive consequences. Giving the semantic content this is one facet of a fregean sense. Like freddie mercury if, for example, aristotle were to be predestined in such a way, rules 5 and 6 would.
That identity statements between what we call names in actual language are necessary. The necessity of identity is not a thesis about language at all. According to descriptivist theories, proper names either are synonymous with descriptions, or have their reference determined. Christopher hughes offers a careful exposition and critical analysis of kripke s central ideas about names, necessity, and identity, and in the process makes significant contributions to continuing debates about such topics as modality, essence, natural kinds. Kripke if there is such a thing as essential reading in metaphysics or in philosophy of language, this is it. Chapter summary for saul kripkes naming and necessity, lecture 2 summary.
Kripke runs through his famous intuitive argumentsalso in naming and necessity for his views on kind terms. Although much of his work remains unpublished, several major essays have now appeared in print, most recently in his longawaited collection. There has been much confusion about rigidity, even among professional philosophers. In this lecture, professor saul kripke takes the opportunity to revisit some of the more controversial points in his seminal work naming and. Kripke, 9780631128014, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Just as kripke argued that names are not synonymous with the descriptions associated with them, so he argues that natural kind terms are not synonymous with the descriptions associated with them. Kripke began with a consideration of the fregean analysis of the meaning of a sentence as a function of the referents of its parts. Starting from this simple problem, saul kripke s 1980 book naming and necessity covers the history of theories of naming before proposing a radically new. Furthermore, because of the use of tools involving reference and necessity in analytic philosophy today, our views on these topics really have wderanging.
Naming with necessity part of the dissertation portfolio modality, names and descriptions. Kripke naming and necessity problems associated with simple descriptivism the most common way out of this difficulty is to say really it is not a. Yet one of the most famous and rewarding works of said analytic philosophy, naming and necessity, is a breezy romp through many of the most major problems of linguistic and metaphysical analysis. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of reference, in particular of. Kripke showed that one could be coarse about how language works while being delicate and polished in the theory that spells out the details. But while the better picture that kripke provided was very interesting and stimulating, it was little more than a sketch of a theory that needed much work and refinement. Saul kripke, identity and necessity driving question. Naming and necessity was mentioned as one of the eminent texts for this practice.
Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. The routledge philosophy guidebook to kripke and naming and necessity is an ideal starting point for anyone coming kripke s work for the first time. Read routledge philosophy guidebook to kripke and naming and necessity by harold noonan available from rakuten kobo. He acknowledges that some of the views he articulates about. Synthese library monographs on epistemology, logic, methodology, philosophy of science, sociology of science and of knowledge, and on the mathematical methods of social and behavioral sciences, vol 40.
Kripke attributes variants of descriptivist theories to frege, russell, wittgenstein and john searle, among others. He made important contributions to several areas of philosophy, including logic, metaphysics, philosophy of language, epistemology, and philosophy of mind. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of reference, in particular of naming, and of identity. Saul kripke, in a series of classic writings of the 1960s and 1970s, changed the face of metaphysics and philosophy of language. It includes one paper by kripke himself and each of the other papers touches, in some way, on kripkes work. Main ideas and takeaways about saul kripke s naming and necessity. Kripke naming and necessity problems associated with simple descriptivism the most common way out of this difficulty is to say really it is not a weakness in ordinary language that we cant substitute a particular description for the name. Kripkes naming and necessity some theses of naming and necessity 1. Download our ma in art history, curatorship and renaissance culture brochure ma in cultural, intellectual and visual history download our. Kripke on the descriptive theory of names, lecture i of naming and necessity. Click download or read online button to get saul kripke book now. Ever since the publication of its original version, naming and necessity has had great and increasing influence.
Starting from this simple problem, saul kripke s 1980 book naming and necessity covers the history of theories of naming before proposing a radically new theory. When a name s referent is fixed by the original act of naming, it becomes a rigid designator. Since the descriptions ordinarily associated with names. Kripkes naming and necessity university of notre dame. A term is a rigid designator when it designates the same object in every possible world in which that object exists. Pdf naming and necessity download full pdf book download. Lets take the example of the meterstick that kripke brings up. In the later naming and necessity, kripke suggested that the principle could be derived directly, assuming what he called rigid designation. This seminal work, to which todays thriving essentialist metaphysics largely owes its impetus, is here reissued in a newly corrected form with a new. Kripke goes on to discuss two ways of generating true essentialist claims. Time and development in kripkes naming and necessity. Christopher hughes offers a careful exposition and critical analysis of kripke s central ideas about names, necessity, and identity, and in the process makes significant contributions to continuing debates about such topics as modality, essence, natural kinds, and.
Kripke s naming and necessity, nagels view from nowhere, quines on what there is,other suggs for accessible texts by analytical phils. This study guide for naming and necessity by saul kripke looks at the key concepts and main ideas to help you get a deeper understanding of naming and necessity. Russell looks to break everything down into more atomistic pieces in a search for truth. The three lectures that form naming and necessity constitute an attack on descriptivist theory of names. He is best known for reintroducing modal concepts, such as necessity and possibility, with his landmark works naming and necessity and identity and necessity, as well as his popularizing gottfried leibnizs notion of possible worlds as a way of analyzing the concepts of a priori, analytic, and necessary. Saul kripke is a philosopher and logician and emeritus professor at princeton. Introduction saul kripke has made fundamental contributions to a variety of areas of logic, and his name is attached to a corresponding variety of objects and results. Saul kripke is one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. We will use the term name so that it does not include definite descriptions of that sort, but only those things which in ordinary language would be called proper names. Find a summary of this and each chapter of naming and necessity.
He is a distinguished professor of philosophy at the graduate center of the city university of new york and emeritus professor at princeton university. An explanation of the life and works of saul kripke, the prodigy logician, master of modal language, and greatest living philosopher, including kripke semantics, naming and necessity, kripkenstein. Naming and necessity has had a great and increasing influence. Saul kripke, american logician and philosopher who was one of the most powerful and influential thinkers in contemporary analytic anglophone philosophy. Master of modal language, and greatest living philosopher, including kripke semantics, naming and necessity, kripkenstein and more. If not, anyway, such connections will be developed in the course of these talks. Saul kripke notes the importance of the concept of necessity in contemporary analytic philosophy. He is a writer and producer, known for supernatural 2005, the boys 2019 and boogeyman 2005. This study guide for saul kripke s naming and necessity offers summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Applied to our news story about homer, the device of rigid desig nators guarantees that if we are referring at all by the name homer. Naming and necessity lecture 1 summary course hero. A sense is supposed to be that which is grasped by the mind, a meaning in some nontechnical sense. It would be impossible, in this space, to exhibit just how naming and necessity did this.
Routledge philosophy guidebook to kripke and naming and. Considerable time has elapsed, and i have come to realize that any extensive revision or expansion would delay the appearance of a separate, less expensive edition of naming and necessity indefinitely. Richard rorty kripke versus kant lrb 4 september 1980. If there is such a thing as essential reading in metaphysics or in philosophy of language, this is it. We can then ask whether certain things might have been true of these objects 273. Essentiality of origins 111114 kripke suggests as a plausible essentialist principle the view that if a material object has its origin in a certain bit of matter, then it could not have existed without having that origin. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. If one expression is a rigid and another is not, they cannot mean the same. Ive been having some difficulty understanding how kripke in naming and necessity dissolves or removes the concept of essentialism from identification of entities across possible worlds. He has a point he cites a theory, maybe used by some philosophers of historians about certain individuals who are predestined for greatness straight from birth. Originally i had intended to revise or augment naming and necessity extensively.