Saul Kripke facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Saul Kripke
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Kripke in 2005
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| Born | November 13, 1940 Bay Shore, New York, U.S.
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| Died | September 15, 2022 (aged 81) |
| Education | Harvard University (B.A., 1962) |
| Awards | Rolf Schock Prizes in Logic and Philosophy (2001) |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Analytic |
| Institutions | Princeton University CUNY Graduate Center |
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Main interests
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Logic (particularly modal) Philosophy of language Metaphysics Set theory Epistemology Philosophy of mind History of analytic philosophy |
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Notable ideas
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List
Kripke–Platek set theory
Work on theory of reference (causal theory of reference, causal-historical theory of reference, direct reference theory, criticism of the Frege–Russell view) Admissible ordinal Kripke structure Rigid vs. flaccid designator A posteriori necessity The possibility of analytic a posteriori judgments Semantic theory of truth (Kripke's theory) Non-analytic, a posteriori necessary truths Contingent a priori Kripke semantics Disquotational principle Accessibility relation Rule-following paradox (Kripkenstein) Humphrey objection |
Saul Aaron Kripke (November 13, 1940 – September 15, 2022) was an American philosopher and logician. He was a very important thinker in a field called analytic philosophy. Kripke taught philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and was also a professor at Princeton University.
Since the 1960s, Kripke made big contributions to many areas. These include mathematical logic, modal logic (a type of logic dealing with possibility and necessity), philosophy of language, and metaphysics (the study of what is real). Much of his work was not formally published. Instead, it existed as recordings of his lectures or private notes.
Kripke's ideas greatly influenced logic, especially modal logic. His most famous contribution is a way to understand modal logic using "possible worlds." This idea is now called Kripke semantics. For his work, he received the 2001 Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy.
Kripke also helped bring back the study of metaphysics. This field had become less popular for a while. He argued that "necessity" is a real idea about how things must be, different from just knowing something "a priori" (before experience). He showed that some things are necessarily true but we only learn them through experience, like knowing that water is H2O.
His 1970 lectures at Princeton were published as the book Naming and Necessity in 1980. This book is seen as one of the most important philosophy books of the 20th century. In it, Kripke introduced the idea of rigid designators. These are names that refer to the same thing in every possible world. He compared them to descriptions, which might refer to different things. The book also presented Kripke's causal theory of reference. This theory disagreed with older ideas from philosophers like Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell.
Kripke also wrote a unique interpretation of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. This interpretation is known as "Kripkenstein" and is found in his book Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language. This book explores a puzzle about how we understand the meaning of words and rules.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Saul Kripke was the oldest of three children. His parents were Dorothy K. Kripke and Rabbi Myer S. Kripke. His father was a rabbi in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother wrote educational books for Jewish children.
Saul and his two sisters, Madeline and Netta, went to school in Omaha. Saul was considered a child genius. By age six, he taught himself Biblical Hebrew. By nine, he had read all of Shakespeare's plays. He even understood complex math problems before finishing elementary school. When he was 17, he wrote his first important math theorem about modal logic. It was published a year later.
After high school in 1958, Kripke went to Harvard University. He graduated in 1962 with a degree in mathematics. He earned it with the highest honors, summa cum laude. While still a student at Harvard, he taught a college-level logic course at MIT. Kripke later said he wished he could have skipped college. He felt he learned more by reading on his own.
Career and Achievements
After a short time teaching at Harvard, Kripke moved to Rockefeller University in New York City in 1968. He taught there until 1976. In 1978, he became a professor at Princeton University. Princeton recognized his achievements in the humanities with the Behrman Award in 1988. In 2002, Kripke started teaching at the CUNY Graduate Center. He became a distinguished professor of philosophy there in 2003.
Kripke received special honorary degrees from several universities. These include the University of Nebraska (1977), Johns Hopkins University (1997), University of Haifa, Israel (1998), and the University of Pennsylvania (2005). He was also a member of important academic groups. These include the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2001, he won the Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy.
Kripke was married to Margaret Gilbert, who was also a philosopher. He passed away on September 15, 2022.
Key Ideas and Contributions
Kripke's work changed how many people thought about philosophy. Here are some of his most important contributions:
- Kripke semantics: This is a way to understand modal logic. He developed this idea when he was still a teenager.
- Naming and Necessity: This book, based on his 1970 lectures, greatly changed the field of philosophy of language.
- Wittgenstein's ideas: Kripke offered a new way to understand the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's work.
- Theory of truth: He also developed his own ideas about what truth means.
He also contributed to recursion theory, which is a part of mathematics.
The Saul Kripke Center
The Saul Kripke Center is located at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. This center works to keep Kripke's ideas and writings safe and available. Romina Padro is the director of the center.
The center hosts events about Kripke's work. It is also creating a digital archive. This archive will include recordings of Kripke's lectures that were never published. It will also have his lecture notes and letters from the 1950s onwards. Many people are excited about this project.
Major Works
Here are some of the main books Saul Kripke wrote:
- Naming and Necessity. Published in 1972.
- Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language: an Elementary Exposition. Published in 1982.
- Philosophical Troubles. Collected Papers Vol. 1. Published in 2011.
- Reference and Existence – The John Locke Lectures. Published in 2013.
See also
In Spanish: Saul Kripke para niños
- American philosophy
- List of American philosophers
- Barry Kripke (a character on The Big Bang Theory who is believed to be named after Saul)
