Kripke

NAMING AND NECESSITY 

• Kripke lays out a new semantics for proper names

• According to Frege and Russell, proper names are actually disguised definite descriptions 

• A name has two functions: (a) it means something, and (b) it allows us to fix reference

• Definite descriptions satisfy both functions 

• A name bears meaning because it is synonymous with some definite description or other 

• And, definite descriptions allow us to to determine a unique reference for each name

PUZZLES 

• But the descriptive theory of names leads to some puzzles

• Since I already knew this, I would have replaced the Aritotle with a definite description since its the only thing I know about Aristotle which would give me the proposition above 

• But we shouldn’t be able to turn empirical claims like this into tautologies

AGAINST THE DESCRIPTIVE THEORY OF NAMES 

• We seem to be able to refer to someone even if we don’t know any descriptive phrase they uniquely satisfy 

• Causal chain of reference which go back to a naming ceremony  

• What I am naming is the essence of a person, we dont have a science that picks out the essence of a person, but we are still naming something (connection between Putnam and Kripke)

• Whatever gets named has an essence, we cannot imagine being anything else 

• Names pick things out as designators 

Designator

any term that picks out an object or class of objects

Rigid Designator

any term that picks out the same entity in all possible worlds

Non-Rigid Designator

•  a term that picks out an entity in at least one, but not all, possible worlds 

Necessary Statement

• a statement that is true in all possible worlds, e.g. logical claims, mathematical claims 

Contingent Statement

• a statement that is true in at least one, but not all, possible worlds

A priori Statement

a statement that is known prior to empirical evidence

A posteriori Statement

• a statement that is known only after experience (or some scientific procedure) 

Necessary a priori:

• a statement that is necessarily true, and known/ knowable prior to experience 

Necessary a posteriori:

• a statement that is necessarily true, but only known/knowable via experience - re thinking of Frege theoretical identification  

Contingent a priori:

•  a statement that is true in this world, but not all worlds, that is known/knowable prior to experience 

Contingent a posteriori:

• a statement that is true in this world, but not all worlds, and is known via experience