What Russell's theory of descriptions solved — 'the present king of France is bald' is meaningful but false

What Wittgenstein's later philosophy argues — meaning is use, not reference

"Meaning arises from linguistic use, not from the objects' inherent properties."

What Quine's 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism' attacked — the analytic/synthetic distinction and reductionism

Quine's 'Two Dogmas' critiques the analytic/synthetic distinction and reductionism

What nominalism claims — only particular things exist, universals are just names

Nominalism posits that only individual objects exist, universals are mere linguistic constructs

What philosophical concept did Saul Kripke challenge in his "Naming and Necessity" address, particularly addressing the idea of a posteriori necessity and the contingent identity of names?

Kripke challenged the descriptivist theory of names and necessity

Why logical positivism collapsed — the verification principle couldn't verify itself

The self-referential paradox of the verification principle undermined logical positivism's foundational premise

What Kripke's Naming and Necessity showed — identity statements like 'water is H₂O' are necessary a posteriori

Kripke's Naming and Necessity established that some identity statements are necessarily true but known a posteriori