Gogoeta batzuk Naming and Necessityri buruz

Abstract

This paper celebrates the fortieth anniversary of Naming and Necessity by

gathering together some reflections I have made on that work over the years. The paper

focuses on aspects of the book that I think have been misunderstood, overlooked, mistakenly

rejected, or simply merit more emphasis. The paper starts with the philosophy of language,

first discussing Kripke’s most powerful argument against description theories of reference,

the “ignorance and error” argument. It then considers Kripke’s causal-historical “better

picture”, his discussion of rigidity, and finally, “direct reference”, an implausible doctrine that

has been wrongly attributed to Kripke. The rest of the paper is concerned with essentialist

doctrines that Kripke has urged about biological kinds, chemical kinds, and individuals. These

doctrines have been trenchantly criticized by some philosophers of science. I think that the

relevant sciences support Kripke, not the critics.