A Study Of Kripke's Theory Of Name

Kripke is a well-known logician and philosopher, he proposed Causal-Historical Theory of Name. It is opposite to the traditional theory of name that is represented by Frege and Russell. In the traditional theory, the name has sense and reference, and reference is related to a description or a cluster of descriptions. As long as the object meets the characteristics described by the descriptions, we can determine the reference of the name.Kripke argued that the name has reference, but has not sense, and it is related to the social and historical factors. Through analyzing Kant's views that had divided propositions into analytic propositions and synthetic propositions, Kripke believes that the tradition al view since Kant that analytic propositions are both necessary and a priori, and synthetic propositions are both contingent and a posteriori is the mistaken development of Kant's views. In Kripke's view, from a logical point of view, "a priori" and "necessary" are two different philosophical concepts, "a priori" is the philosophical concept of epistemology, and "necessary" is the philosophical concept of metaphysics. Necessary propositions can be both a priori and posteriori, and contingent propositions can be both a priori and posteriori.As Kripke's theory of name put forward many new ideas and thoughts, and overthrew the dominance of the traditional theory of name which is represented by Frege and Russell, So Kripke's theory of name has impacted philosophy of landuage and philosophy of logic. Studying his theory will not only helps us to accurately grasp Kripke's theory of name, but also help us to make clear the relationship between Kripke's theory of name and the traditional theory. Therefore, to study the Kripke's theory of name not only has a certain theoretical significance, but also has some practical significance.