In the rest of the first lecture, Kripke discusses a number of different ideas he will used in his discussion of the meaning of proper names. In this assignment we will look at way of relating the concepts of the necessary, the a priori, and the analytic. This is one of Kripke’s original contributions and has proved to be very influential.
• He begins with a discussion of the logical complexity of the concept of the a priori (pp. 34-35).
• Next he turns to the most original part of this discussion (pp. 35-38). He distinguishes between the a priori and the necessary in a way that points to the possibility of necessary truths known a posteriori and contingent truths known a priori. Although his discussion of the Goldbach conjecture points to an example of the former, clearer and more important examples will appear later. The idea of the contingent a priori is less central to his later discussion, but he will offer an example in the final part of the first lecture and another sort of example later in the book.
• His short account of reasons we people have linked ‘necessary’ and ‘a priori’ (pp. 38f) anticipates views about the relation of knowledge and necessity that will become more apparent in the following two assignments.
• Finally, he offers an account of the meaning of “analytic” (p. 39).