Softcover

ISBN 10: 0631128018 ISBN 13: 9780631128014

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 1981

'Naming and Necessity' has had a great and increasing influence. It redirected philosophical attention to neglected questions of natural and metaphysical necessity and to the connections between these and theories of naming, and of identity. This seminal work, to which today's thriving essentialist metaphysics largely owes its impetus, is here reissued in a newly corrected form with a new preface by the author. If there is such a thing as essential reading in metaphysics, or in philosophy of language, this is it.

Review:

"Brilliant and very influential . . . stands up as an impressiveand enduring work of philosophy, outstanding in its sweep, clarityand penetration."--Colin McGinn, Times Higher EducationSupplement

"When these lectures were first published eight years ago, theystood analytic philosophy on its ear. Everybody was either furious, or exhilarated, or thoroughly perplexed. No one was indifferent.This welcome republication provides a chance to look back at amodern classic, and to say something about why it was found soshocking and liberating."--Richard Rorty, London Review ofBooks

About the Author:

Saul Kripke is a Distinguished Professor in the Philosophy Department at the Graduate Center, CUNY.