Reference and Existence

Saul Kripke's Locke Lectures were delivered in Oxford in 1973. Delivered in Kripke's usual extemporaneous style, for years the lectures have only been available as a transcription that has been informally exchanged among philosophers. This volume, which publishes the lectures in book form for the first time, follows up on some of the themes on language that Kripke started to explore in his most famous work, Naming and Necessity. The first topic that Kripke examines is the relationship of naming to existence, in particular the problem of names that are empty i.e. which refer to non-existent objects such as fictional entities. The second major topic (or pair of topics) is that of speaker's reference and semantic reference. The lectures are full of philosophically rich ideas that have already been influential, and which will continue to intrigue and engage philosophers in book form. For one thing, Reference and Existence includes many long, substantive footnotes (obviously composed very recently) that demonstrate that in his [Kripke's] seventies he is capable of philosophical thinking of the same high order that made him famous when he was a young man ... I cannot possibly convey, within the scope of this review, the subtlety, richness and beautiful logical coherence of Kripke's treatment of the ontology of fiction. It is a good thing that these superb lectures have finally been published Peter Van Inwagen, The Times Literary SupplimentPreface ; Lecture I: October 30th, 1973 ; Lecture II: November 6th, 1973 ; Lecture III: November 13, 1973 ; Lecture IV: November 20th, 1973 ; Lecture V: November 27th, 1973 ; Lecture VI: December 4th, 1973 ; References ; Index