Kripke's Theory of Reference

Kripke's Theory of Reference suggests that names directly refer to specific individuals or objects, not just to descriptions or qualities we associate with them. For example, the name "Aristotle" refers specifically to the historical figure, regardless of how we define him. This challenges the idea that knowing a name means knowing its description. Instead, names are linked to their referents through social and historical contexts. This means our understanding of who or what we are talking about can be more complex than just matching a name to a description.