Open AccessKripkenstein's Paradox
Author(s) -
Gustavo Picazo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
análisis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2386-8066
DOI - 10.26754/ojs_arif/a.rif.201611185
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , character (mathematics) , argument (complex analysis) , epistemology , simple (philosophy) , philosophy , contrast (vision) , order (exchange) , mathematics , mathematical economics , computer science , economics , artificial intelligence , biochemistry , chemistry , geometry , finance
In this note I present a solution to Kripkenstein’s paradox, based on a very simple argument: (1) language and rule-following are empirical phenomena; (2) no case has been described, in real life, of a person who behaves as Wittgenstein’s or Kripke’s fictional character; (3) therefore, the discussion of such a case is completely devoid of interest. I lay out the example of a ‘Kripkensteinian apple’, which has a normal weight on even days and is weightless on odd days, in order to highlight the contrast between a genuinely empirical perspective, such as that of physics, and the logical-analytical perspective, under which Kripkenstein’s paradox has attracted so much attention.