Can you know something for sure without ever seeing it?

Saul Kripke

Can you know something for sure without ever seeing it?

Imagine you're told every time you see a glass of water, it's actually H2O. You don't need to test it; you just know it's water.

Saul Kripke argued that some truths about things, like water being H2O, are absolutely true in all situations, even if you never test them.

Example

You know the glass of water is H2O without ever doing a chemical test.

Remember this

Kripke's concept of rigid designators shows that some truths are known inherently, not just through experience.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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