Lexicon of Arguments

 

I 116
Necessary/not a priori: e.g. Goldbach’s conjecture: it will turn out with necessity.
>Goldbach's conjecture, >necessary a posteriori.
I would suggest, however, that it is not a necessary fact that Aristotle has the logical sum of the properties which are usually attributed to him.
Kripke (VsTradition): molecular motion is necessarily identical with heat. We have discovered it, but it could not have been otherwise.
Physical truths are necessary:
e.g. heat = molecular motion - but this has no analogy to mind-brain identities.
>Identity theory, >Pain/Kripke.
I 116
Def necessity/Kripke: identity assertions in which both expressions designate rigidly constitute necessity. E.g. »Water is H₂0". Water could not have been something else. It is essential for water that it is this material with this atomic structure. Where there is no H₂0, there is no water.
>Rigidity/Kripke.
- - -
Frank I 121f
Necessary/Kripke: compounds formed with two or more rigid designation expressions are necessary, e.g. that pain simply feels like pain. Contingent/Kripke: e.g. the fact that there are living beings on this planet (namely us) who feel heat a certain way. E.g. that heat feels to us as it feels. Tradition: a brain condition could also occur without pain.
I 122
Necessary/essential properties/KripkeVsTradition: the type of picking out pain (by experience) and the brain state (configuration of molecules) in both cases is essential and not accidental. The brain state could be singled out through contingent facts, but not the pain.


Saul A. Kripke (1972): Naming and Necessity, in: Davidson/Harmann (eds.) (1972), pp. 253-355.


Kripke I 144
Necessary properties do not have to belong to the meaning. (The periodic table was discovered later). Scientific discoveries do not change the meaning. Meaning does not arise from properties.
>Meaning/Kripke, >Properties/Kripke.
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Stalnaker I 188
Necessary a posteriori/Kripke/Stalnaker: typical cases: statements that contain names e.g. Hesperus = Phosphorus (see below: they were determined by different causal chains). Statements about natural kinds: e.g. "the atomic weight of gold is 79".
>Morning star/evening star, >Natural kinds/Kripke.