Metaphysical Gold Miner
The Metaphysical Gold Miner Saul A. Kripke holds the belief that gold is not only of interest to those seeking wealth, but also to philosophers. He discusses the metaphysical pertinence of gold when discussing theoretical identifications of natural kinds, such as: water = H20. Kripke asks the question, “What’s gold? ... 116) Kant took it to be analytic that gold is a yellow metal. ... Suppose there is a peculiarity in the atmosphere that distorts our vision of the substance that we call ‘gold. ... Would we then conclude that gold does not exist (since gold must be a yellow metal)? ... We only discovered that gold is not yellow after all, but blue. So, it is not analytic that gold is a yellow metal. Kripke is arguing that gold has essential properties that can be empirically established, but the fact that gold is yellow is not necessary in all possible worlds.