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If I Were Kripke … Attributive Names and the Necessary A Posteriori
Author(s) -
Strollo Andrea
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the philosophical forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.134
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1467-9191
pISSN - 0031-806X
DOI - 10.1111/phil.12212
Subject(s) - attributive , identity (music) , reading (process) , epistemology , interpretation (philosophy) , linguistics , possible world , a priori and a posteriori , philosophy , psychology , aesthetics
According to Naming and Necessity , proper names usually work referentially as rigid designators. In this paper, I argue that proper names have also attributive uses that systematically emerge in particular contexts. Attributive uses are then exploited to show that simple identity claims (such as “Hesperus is Phosphorus”) are open to a double interpretation. The main aim of the paper is arguing that the impression that certain true identities are a posteriori is mostly due to one of the two readings, a reading according to which, however, the expressed truth is only contingently true.