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Saul Kripke

Saul KripkeSaul Kripke (1940- ).

Saul Kripke is an American philosopher now emeritus from (Princeton) and professor of philosophy at CUNY Graduate Center.

He is best known for his attack on the descriptivist (Fregean, Russellian) theory of reference with respect to proper names, according to which a name refers to an object by virtue of the name’s being associated with a description that the object in turn satisfies. He gave several examples purporting to render descriptivism implausible (e.g., surely Aristotle could have died at age two and so not satisfied any of the descriptions we associate with his name).

Saul Kripke proposed instead a causal theory of reference, according to which a name refers to an object by virtue of a causal connection with the object as mediated through communities of speakers. Kripke also raised the prospect of a posteriori necessities – facts that are necessarily true, though they can be known only through empirical investigation. Examples include “Hesperus is Phosphorus”, “Cicero is Tully”, and other identity claims where two names refer to the same object. (These two contributions – causal reference and a posteriori necessity – have been echoed by Hilary Putnam, and there is controversy as to whether Kripke was in turn echoing earlier work by Ruth Barcan Marcus.) Finally, Kripke gave an argument against identity materialism in the philosophy of mind, the view that every mental fact is identical with some physical fact. Kripke argued that the only way to defend this identity is as an a posteriori necessary identity, but that such an identity – e.g., pain is C – fibers firing – could not be necessary, given the possibility of real honest – to – goodness pain that has nothing to do with C – fibers firing. Similar arguments are defended today by David Chalmers. These three contributions can be found in Kripke’s lectures entitled “Naming and Necessity”.

Kripke also made interesting contributions to the study of the later Ludwig Wittgenstein in lectures published as Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language, although his work here has been faulted for being not particularly true to the historical Wittgenstein.

Indeed, many philosophers refer to the subject of Kripke’s book as “Kripkenstein,” on the grounds that whomever the text is about, it’s not about Wittgenstein. Kripke’s book has also been faulted for not giving credit to other authors who interpreted Wittgenstein similarly (see e.g. Robert J. Fogelin’s Wittgenstein).

Kripke’s influence has been substantial; much of his work, unfortunately, exists only in tape – recorded or transcript form.

Kripke also published substantial novel work in formal logic – particularly in the semantics of modal logic – while in his teens.

He was the winner of the 2001 Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy.

Table of Contents

  • 1 Major Works of Saul Kripke
    • 1.1 Related:
  • 2 Videos
  • 3 Related Products
    • 3.1 Naming and Necessity
    • 3.2 Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language: An Elementary Exposition
    • 3.3 Philosophical Troubles: Collected Papers, Volume 1
    • 3.4 Reference and Existence: The John Locke Lectures
    • 3.5 Naming and Necessity
    • 3.6 Computability: Turing, Gödel, Church, and Beyond (The MIT Press)
    • 3.7 Saul Kripke (Volume 3) (Philosophy Now)
    • 3.8 Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Kripke and Naming and Necessity (Routledge Philosophy GuideBooks)
    • 3.9 When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought
    • 3.10 Kripke

Major Works of Saul Kripke

– Naming and Necessity (1982)
– Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language (1984)

Related:

  • causal theory of names
  • causal theories of reference
  • private language argument
  • identity theory of mind
  • essentialism

  • Videos

  • Related Products

     
    Naming and Necessity

    Naming and Necessity

    • Blackwell
    • Kripke, Saul A. (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 184 Pages - 01/08/1991 (Publication Date) - Wiley-Blackwell (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language: An Elementary Exposition

    Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language: An Elementary Exposition

    • Used Book in Good Condition
    • Kripke, Saul A. (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 160 Pages - 06/25/1982 (Publication Date) - Harvard University Press (Publisher)
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    Philosophical Troubles: Collected Papers, Volume 1

    Philosophical Troubles: Collected Papers, Volume 1

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Kripke, Saul A. (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 403 Pages - 11/10/2011 (Publication Date) - Oxford University Press (Publisher)
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    Reference and Existence: The John Locke Lectures

    Reference and Existence: The John Locke Lectures

    • Kripke, Saul (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 186 Pages - 01/01/2018 (Publication Date) - Oxford University Press (Publisher)
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    Naming and Necessity

    Naming and Necessity

    • Used Book in Good Condition
    • Kripke, Saul A. (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 192 Pages - 07/26/1980 (Publication Date) - Harvard University Press (Publisher)
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    Computability: Turing, Gödel, Church, and Beyond (The MIT Press)

    Computability: Turing, Gödel, Church, and Beyond (The MIT Press)

    • English (Publication Language)
    • 376 Pages - 01/30/2015 (Publication Date) - The MIT Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Saul Kripke (Volume 3) (Philosophy Now)

    Saul Kripke (Volume 3) (Philosophy Now)

    • Used Book in Good Condition
    • Fitch, G.W. (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 272 Pages - 09/02/2004 (Publication Date) - McGill-Queen's University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Kripke and Naming and Necessity (Routledge Philosophy GuideBooks)

    Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Kripke and Naming and Necessity (Routledge Philosophy GuideBooks)

    • Used Book in Good Condition
    • Noonan, Harold (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 256 Pages - 02/05/2013 (Publication Date) - Routledge (Publisher)
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    When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought

    When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Holt, Jim (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 386 Pages - 05/15/2018 (Publication Date) - Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Publisher)
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    Kripke

    Kripke

    • Used Book in Good Condition
    • Burgess, John P. (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 224 Pages - 12/10/2012 (Publication Date) - Polity (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
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