Saul Kripke, “Naming and Necessity” [1972] 1 of 2; Pls read: Preface & Lecture I

Meetup 1 of 2 for our discussion of the seventh most-cited philosophical text of the 20th-Century: Saul Kripke's Naming and Necessity [1980]

From Wikipedia:
Kripke was partly responsible for the revival of metaphysics and essentialism after the decline of logical positivism, claiming necessity is a metaphysical notion distinct from the epistemic notion of a priori, and that there are necessary truths that are known a posteriori, such as that water is H2O. A 1970 Princeton lecture series, published in book form in 1980 as Naming and Necessity, is considered one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century. It introduces the concept of names as rigid designators, designating (picking out, denoting, referring to) the same object in every possible world, as contrasted with descriptions. It also contains Kripke's causal theory of reference, disputing the descriptivist theory found in Gottlob Frege's concept of sense and Bertrand Russell's theory of descriptions. Kripke is often seen in opposition to the other great late-20th-century philosopher to eschew logical positivism: W. V. O. Quine. Quine rejected essentialism and modal logic.

Kripke also gave an original reading of Ludwig Wittgenstein, known as "Kripkenstein", in his Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language. The book contains his rule-following argument, a paradox for skepticism about meaning. Much of his work remains unpublished or exists only as tape recordings and privately circulated manuscripts.

To get your bearings with N&N, see videos below.

How we will discuss N&N:
Markup your text of the assignment with questions, comments, counterpoints, etc. We will solicit your remarks on Kripke sequentially. Our goal is to benefit from our discussions of the whole of N&N over two sessions during August 2023.

Schedule of readings (please read and annotate your text):
For Aug 13, 2023, #1 of 2, pls read: Preface, Lecture 1
For Aug 27, 2023, #2 of 2, pls read: Lectures 2, 3 and Addenda

Edition (available from libraries or online):
Naming and Necessity. Saul Kripke. Malden MA: Blackwell Pub, 1981. ISBN: 9780631128014

Here is a PDF version

Join us online via Zoom.

After you RSVP, the link will be available.

Any attendees who have not read the text will be invited to pose questions via the Zoom Chat.

Videos on Saul Kripke [increase playback speed as desired]:
Lecture on Kripke by Daniel Bonevac, UT-Austin 2013 - 44 min
Naming and Necessity Revisited, Univ. of London, 2019 - 58 min
and others suggested by you!

Our 2023 Schedule (subject to change):
Aug 13, 2023: Kripke, Naming and Necessity [1980] 1/2
Aug 27, 2023: Kripke, Naming and Necessity [1980] 2/2
Sep 10, 2023: MacIntyre, After Virtue [1981] 1/3
Sep 27, 2023: MacIntyre, After Virtue [1981] 2/3
Oct 11, 2023: MacIntyre, After Virtue [1981] 3/3
Oct-Dec 2023: Parfit, Reason & Persons [1984]
Jan 2024: Bakewell, Humanly Possible [2023] 1/2

Links to the other book groups I host on Meetup:
Reading Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time in French and English:
www.meetup.com/proust/
Reading 20th-Century philosophers:
www.meetup.com/history-of-ideas/