Kripke's Naming and Necessity | WSB #6

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A name, one might think, simply stands in for the thing it names. But, if it's really as simple as that, why is a statement like "Chris Wallace is Biggie Smalls" informative? Why isn't it a tautology, of the form A is A? 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. The book revolutionized philosophy like few books have. Aside from challenging how we think about names and identity, it also clarified the notions of "a priori" and "necessary." Famously, Kripke showed why "Water is H2O" is actually a necessary fact, though not a priori. In this episode, I summarize Kripke's arguments and propose some criticisms to his theory.

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Sources:

"The Causal Theory of Names" by Gareth EvansNaming and Necessity by Saul Kripke

55 episodes

#Society #Philosophy #William Nava