Adam asked:

Can you give me a thumbnail version of Kripke's interpretation of the Private Language Argument?
What is Wittgenstein's skeptical conclusion? Is Kripke on to something important about Wittgenstein?

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Kripke claims that Wittgenstein's skeptical conclusion, following from Paras 201—202 of
Philosophical Investigationsis that nobody can ever be proven to follow a given rule, since what has
so far looked like following that rule can evolve into irregularity.

For example, someone who has used a '+' sign the way it's normally used can suddenly start using it
the way the '-' sign is normally used, and claim that he was following a rule according to which the
meaning of the '+' sign is first normal, but then changes at a given point in time.

Kripke is not on to anything important about Wittgenstein, since he ignores Wittgenstein's key point
that following a rule is typically something that happens among a community of people, and a
community of people provides a standard of what it means to follow a given rule that is independent
of any one person. It's generally accepted that Wittgenstein is actually fighting the position Kripke
takes him to be arguing for.

T.P. Uschanov
University of Helsinki