Identity and modality

Abstract

In 1970, Saul Kripke gave the watershed lectures that is Naming and Necessity. One of his claims, which had far reaching implications, was that all identities are necessary. Despite his wide influence, many worries remained. This essay explores two of the most popular worries with Kripke's project: Quine's objection of referential opacity and the problems of transworld identification. I hope to show that both of these worries are merely worries, and the air of serious objection they both carry can be dispelled.