Consider the following case. We all believe that Obama won the elections in 2008, and assumed office on January 20, 2009. But suppose we find out tomorrow that actually a few days after the electoral success, Obama was kidnapped and taken to a secret location. His place was taken by another person, who resembles him perfectly, call that persopn ‘John Fairbanks’. So the oath of office on 20 January was actually taken by Fairbanks.
Questions:
(a) when we were talking about Obama yesterday, saying ‘Obama is right about Egypt, but his domestic policies are outrageous’, what was the name ‘Obama’ referring to: (i) according to Kripke, (ii) according to the description theory of names, and (ii) according to you, if what you think is different from both.
(b) What is, intuitively, the difference between my example and the classic examples that Kripke offers against the description theory (like the Gödel/Schmidt case)?