Jakub Mácha: The standard meter has always the same length. Contra Diamond contra Malcolm contra Kripke contra Wittgenstein

Abstract

The standard meter in Paris has been a mysterious piece of iron, at least for philosophers who keep asking puzzling questions about it. Is the standard meter one meter long? Or it isn’t? Can we say it? Can the standard meter change its length? Wittgenstein famously said that we can say neither it is one meter long nor it isn’t one meter long. Kripke, even more famously, said that Wittgenstein must have been wrong because he failed to recognize that the expression “standard meter” is a rigid designator referring to the abstract length, not to the actual piece of iron. Malcolm criticized this view by insisting that there is no way to drive apart the length one meter and the length of the standard meter. This implies that “standard meter” refers to the length of the standard meter at the time of baptizing and at any later time. Diamond counted Malcom’s argument by claiming that using our knowledge of physical laws we can compare the standard meter with its past state and hence we can conceive the idea that the standard meter has changed its length. The core of Diamond’s argument against Malcolm rests upon our ability to imagine comparisons which we do not actually carry out. In fact, Diamond has to admit comparisons with counterfactual situations that cannot be carried out in principle. My main aim it his talk is to defend Malcolm against Diamond’s critique while admitting her critical points against Kripke.