“To every name or designating expression ‘X’ there
corresponds a cluster of properties, namely the family of properties φ
such that A believes ‘φX (Kripke, 64).”
This is saying that someone who says a word like Nixon has
innate values which the speaker believes is true such as (generally speaking) President
and Republican. Therefore, the meaning of the word/name “Nixon” is designated
by these beliefs which can also vary by individual.
I like this idea since it seems to mirror what and how we actually
think. My view of Nixon may be different than other people and when I mention “Nixon”
my meaning will be from my own thoughts of what Nixon is/was which may be
incorrect, but still true since I am the reference point.
“”Moses exists” means “enough of the properties φ
are satisfied (Kripke, 65-66).”
What this quote is saying is that, for example, the
name Moses has certain qualifiers that make the name refer to something. In the
case where someone say’s Moses and I also think of Moses, but the Moses each of
us think of shares no qualities of the Moses from the Bible, then we are not
thinking of the same thing, or in other words, the Moses we are thinking about doesn’t
exist.
What I don’t like about this is the idea that we
have to decide what properties Moses exits entails that need to be satisfied. I’m
not sure how one mention of the word Moses can equate to another unless only
one conjunction is satisfactory (if the bible mentions that Moses was married and
parted the red sea and my conception of Moses was married and didn’t part the
red sea, are these the same Moses or not?).
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