Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Hossein Nasrollahi ¹
• Morteza Sedaghat Ahangari Hossein Zadeh ²

¹ . M.A Student in Philosophy of Science, Amirkabir University of Technology

² Assistant Professor of Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Department of Management, Science and Technology

Abstract

There are, at least, three problems in Kripke’s theory of reference, including: 1. the problem of proper names referring: a proper name may refer to different referents in different possible worlds; 2. the problem of reference failure; and 3. the problem of referential infallibility of theoretical terms. In this paper, first we elaborate these problems in more details. Then we show how Kripke himself solves the first problem appealing to the concept of ‘use’ and then we investigate how the other two problems can be solved with the same strategy. We also refer to Davidson’s triangulation thesis to show that linguistic community contributes in the determination of referent.

Keywords

• use
• Kripke’s theory of reference
• possible worlds
• triangulation
• rigid designator
• theoretical terms
• initial baptism