"If I use the name 'Hesperus' to refer to a certain planetary body when seen in a certain celestial position in the evening, it will not therefore be a necessary truth that Hesperus is ever seen in the evening. That depends on various contingent facts about people being there to see and things like that. So even if I should say to myself that I will use 'Hesperus' to name the heavenly body I see in the evening in yonder position of the sky, it will not be necessary that Hesperus was ever seen in the evening. But it may be a priori in that this is how I have determined the referent."
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People from New York (state)Academics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesJews from the United StatesHarvard University alumni
Original Language: English
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Sources
Naming and Necessity (1980, p. 291)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Kripke
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Saul Kripke
Saul Kripke (November 13, 1940 – September 15, 2022) was an American philosopher.
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