Abstract
Saul Kripke is one of several contemporary philosophers who establish the theory of direct reference. His contribution to the subject has mainly been owed to the theses presented in NAMING and NECESSITY and a related paper 'Identity and Necessity'. But it is often ignored that some related issues, especially the challenge and refutation to the Fregean view, could also be found in his 'A Puzzle about Belief'. In this master thesis, the issues arising from it are clarified and examined. Chapter 1 concisely introduces the Fregean view and the position Kripke holds (the Millian view). In addition, I make a distinction between the Positive Thesis and the Negative Thesis, and divide Kripke's critiques of the Fregean notion of sense into these two parts. The Negative Thesis, on my view, is one of consequences arising from Kripke's arguments for belief puzzle. It poses a challenge, in an implicit way, to the Fregean view. Chapter 2 is centred on the problems stemming from Kripke's belief puzzle, on demonstrating the arguments for this puzzle, examining the principles assumed and the postulate presupposed, and clarifying the challenge posed to the Fregean view. In this chapter, I elaborate the Negative Thesis and argue that Kripke's arguments does pose a challenge to the notion of Fregean sense. (The absent section concerning the notion of Fregean sense is forthcoming.) In chapter 3 and chapter 4, our focus changes from the puzzle to its resolutions. Nathan Salmon's and Igal Kvart's resolutions are discussed respectively. In addition to reconstruction, I also try to examine these arguments and consider their implications with respect to the Negative Thesis. This master thesis ends, in chapter 5, with a conclusion. Here we reconsider the issues discussed in the previous chapters, and draw some results from them. The result of chapter 2 taken together with those of chapters 3-4 will be seen as supporting the contention that Kripke's Puzzle is resolvable, but while the Negative Thesis is said to be unsound, Frege's Puzzle vanishes.