Erkenntnis
Publication date:
1990-01-01
Volume:
33
Pages:
297 -
317
DOI:
10.1007/BF00717589
Author:
Van Brakel, Jaap
Keywords:
Philosophy, 2202 History and Philosophy of Specific Fields, 2203 Philosophy
Abstract:
Kripke has argued that definitions of units of measurements provide examples of statements that are both contingent and a priori. In this paper I argue that definitions of units of measurement are intended to be stipulations of what Kripke calls "theoretical identities": a stipulation that two terms will have the same rigid designation. Hence such a definition is both a priori and necessary. The necessity arises because such definitions appeal to natural kind properties only, which on Kripke's account are necessary. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.