Saul Kripke, from Naming and Necessity

Works Cited

Chu-Carroll, Mark C. “Basics: Modal Logic.” Good Math, Bad Math,

ScienceBlogs, 12 Mar. 2007, scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2007/03/12/basics-modal-logic-1/.

Donnellan, Keith S., and Avrum Stroll. “Analytic Philosophy.” Encyclopædia

Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 June 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/analytic-philosophy.

Duignan, Brian, and Scott Soames. “Saul Kripke.” Encyclopædia Britannica,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 13 Mar. 2016, www.britannica.com/biography/Saul-Kripke.

Kleiman, Lowell, and Stephen Lewis. Philosophy: An Introduction Through

Literature. Paragon House, 1992.

Kripke, Saul A. Naming and Necessity. Twelfth Printing, 2001st ed., Harvard

University Press, 1972, academiaanalitica.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/kripke-saul-a-naming-and-necessity-cambridge-harvard-university-press-1981.pdf.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Semantics.” Encyclopædia

Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1 May 2017, www.britannica.com/science/semantics.

Saul Kripke, from "Naming and Necessity"

Image Sources

1. http://izquotes.com/quote/105324

2. https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univerza_Harvard#/media/File:Harvard_Wreath_Logo_1.svg

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_and_Necessity#/media/File:Naming_and_Necessity.jpg

4. https://openclipart.org/download/237429/roach.svg

5. https://openclipart.org/download/167819/is-not-5.svg

6. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/542613455080320623

7. http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=d374f5fb-538c-4004-8c22-d2153548bb06

8. http://fixquotes.com/authors/saul-kripke.htm

9. https://www.kisspng.com/png-england-crown-monarchy-of-the-united-kingdom-clip-663248/preview.html

Kripke vs. “The Metamorphosis”

1. The cockroach is no longer Gregor, because the self is at least partially defined by the body (essentialism). The self requires more than just a past or history or memories or a soul. The self requires the body.

2. An individual's identity isn't just their mind, but their physical appearance as well.

Presented by Serino and Audrey

"Naming and Necessity"

Idea 1

Essentialism - the idea that "objects possess certain properties necessarily - without them the objects would not exist at all" (Duignan and Soames)

"Naming and Necessity"

Idea 2

Kripke asks whether the Queen of England could have been born of different parents (Mr. and Mrs. Truman, for example):

“Then, though we can imagine making a table out of another block of wood or even from ice, identical in appearance with this one, and though we could have put it in this very position in the room, it seems to me that this is not to imagine this table as made of wood or ice, but rather it is to imagine another table, resembling this one in all external details, made of another block of wood or even of ice..” (Kripke qtd. in Kleiman and Lewis 223)

Modal Logic - Allows Inferences to be made

• In addition to stating "This statement is true" and "This statement is false," modal logic uses the concepts of possibility and necessity to state that "It is necessary for X to be true," or "It is possible for X to be true," etc. (Duignan and Soames)
• In other words, modal logic applies the transitive property of mathematics to philosophy.
• A=A. A cat is a cat. By definition, a chair is a chair. These statements are obvious.

"What right would you have to call this baby from completely different parents - in what sense would she be - this very woman?" (Kripke qtd. in Kleiman and Lewis 223)

Body is part of the self.

There can be a "replication" of an object or individual, but there is only one you.

Saul Kripke (1940-today)

=

• But, if we also know that A=B and B=C, then, using modal logic, we can infer that A=C.
• a posteriori knowledge - knowledge derived from experience
• a priori knowledge - knowledge independent of experience ("We hold these truths to be self-evident...")

• Kripke argued that inferences of necessity and possibility can be used to derive knowledge. And, he challenged Kant, by arguing that some a posteriori propositions aren't contingent on a priori knowledge. They are "contingent" on inference.

From early on, Kripke distinguished himself as a thinker, unafraid to challenge the status quo of the philosophical establishment.

"Naming and Necessity" (1980)

Analytic Philosophy: A Few Key Concepts

• Based on a series of three 1970 lectures that Kripke gave at Princeton University
• Used modal logic to describe necessity and possibility as metaphysical concepts
• In other words...

Metaphysics - the branch of philosophy that describes reality

But, how do we "describe" reality? We use language.

So, what is "language?" Or, in other words, how do we accurately describe X, with language?

Analytic philosophy tries to answer these questions.

And Kripke has risen to fame as an analytic philosopher.

"It seems to me that anything coming from a different origin would not be this object." (Kripke qtd. in Kleiman and Lewis 223)

Kripke - an analytic philosopher who blurs the line between mathematics (logic) and philosophy

In other words, you cannot be born from different parents, and still be "you."

• Began his groundbreaking research into the semantics of modal logic as a high school student in Omaha, Nebraska
• As a Harvard freshman, published a revolutionary paper, titled "A Completeness Theorem for Modal Logic"
• Graduated from Harvard with a B.S. in mathematics
• Rose to fame as a logician and philosopher in the 1960's
• Went on to lecture and teach at Harvard, Princeton, and Rockefeller University, among other institutions