Kripke: Puzzles and Mysteries

Key Contemporary Thinkers (Polity)

by John P. Burgess

Saul Kripke has been a major influence on analytic philosophy and allied fields for a half-century and more. His early masterpiece, Naming and Necessity, reversed the pattern of two centuries of philosophizing about the necessary and the contingent. Although much of his work remains unpublished, several major essays have now appeared in print, most recently in his long-awaited collection Philosophical Troubles. In this book Kripke’s long-time colleague, the logician and philosopher John P. Burgess, offers a thorough and self-contained guide to all of Kripke’s published books and his most important philosophical papers, old and new. It also provides an authoritative but non-technical account of Kripke’s influential contributions to the study of modal logic and logical paradoxes. Although Kripke has been anything but a system-builder, Burgess expertly uncovers the connections between different parts of his oeuvre. Kripke is shown grappling, often in opposition to existing traditions, with mysteries surrounding the nature of necessity, rule-following, and the conscious mind, as well as with intricate and intriguing puzzles about identity, belief and self-reference. Clearly contextualizing the full range of Kripke’s work, Burgess outlines, summarizes and surveys the issues raised by each of the philosopher’s major publications.  Kripke will be essential reading for anyone interested in the work of one of analytic philosophy’s greatest living thinkers.

Genres: Philosophy, Metaphysics

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

John P. Burgess (PhD, University of Chicago) is James Henry Snowden Professor of Systematic Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Holy Rus': The Rebirth of Orthodoxy in the New Russia, Encounters with Orthodoxy: How Protestant Churches Can Reform Themselves Again, and Why Scripture Matters: Reading the Bible in a Time of Church Conflict.

Reviews

[Sam Cherry]

A fantastically clear and wide-reaching explanation of Kripke's views. Burgess provides a sufficiently critical lens to highlight challenges to – and outstanding questions within – Kripke's work without getting bogged-down in debates that would take a shelf of books to get a thorough grasp on. Those versed in mathematics may desire the appendices on models and truth to be more formal and rigorous, but as they are they remain accessible to someone with only a little training in logic. An invaluable book for those interested in the philosophy of language and logic, metaphysics, and where these issues touch on the mind-body debate. I cannot recommend it enough.

[John Avery]

Seems to be pitched at the undergraduate.

[Chant]

Interesting book on Kripke. Would be a good book to help flesh out N&N.