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Naming and Necessity

Saul A. Kripke

Why we're reading this: Kripke shows how sense and reference play out in analytic philosophy.
[close] Kripke shows how sense and reference play out in analytic philosophy.

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Nov 22, 2010 Tyler rated it really liked it

Shelves: philosophy

What exactly do the names of things refer to? Ever since the concepts of sense and reference displaced the the use of genus and differentia, how do we determine reference, especially in the case of counterfactuals?

The standard answer had been to approach reference descriptively -- if you use a word of a certain sense, its reference would be the description it fits. But in Naming and Necessity, Kripke begs to differ. And if he’s right, the notion of reference has become a lot easier to manage.

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Mar 31, 2009 Worthless Bum rated it really liked it

Shelves: philosophy, world-cat

My knowledge of twentieth century logic and metaphysics is not sufficient to give a proper review for this book, but I will say that the style is excellent. I will certainly have to return to it once I have learned more about the pertinent philosophies.

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