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Kripke and Santa Claus

Shawn October 15, 2021 at 23:30 2300 views 5 comments
By instantiating that Santa Claus exists, do we affirm his existence in the world as a real entity or as a myth?

I have approached this issue from some angles that make better sense than others.

Namely, Santa Claus exists as a myth. Nobody knows when his instantiation into the imagination of children originated, but, Saint Nickolas supposedly lives at the North Pole.

Now, that aside, I have a specific question to linguistic philosophers. Namely, under the baptismal theory of truth, how is Santa Claus' existence instantiated?

Comments (5)

Banno October 16, 2021 at 21:07 #608108
Quoting Shawn
the baptismal theory of truth,


What's that?
Shawn October 16, 2021 at 21:18 #608111
Reply to Banno

According to Kripke it's this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_theory_of_reference

Not sure if it's a theory of truth altogether...

With that said, Santa's baptism is still undocumented, with him thus being a myth, yes?
Banno October 16, 2021 at 21:34 #608116
Quoting Shawn
Not sure if it's a theory of truth altogether...


That is a rather important bit.

So you meant the causal theory of reference. That makes sense.

SO your question is, who baptised Santa?

Lost to history, I'm afraid. It was 1750 years ago.
Shawn October 16, 2021 at 21:36 #608118
Reply to Banno

Must have been a conspiracy then.
Shawn October 16, 2021 at 21:41 #608122
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Santa loves Coca Cola.