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 Although much of his work remains unpublished, several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.
