Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Behaviorist accounts of meaning (Quine's 'stimulus meaning') show that synonymy cannot be defined without smuggling in intensional notions the physicalist must reject.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Stimulus meaning need not define synonymy; it can establish sufficient conditions for meaningful discourse without capturing perfect synonymy.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Physicalism can incorporate functional or computational roles without treating them as irreducibly intensional—they're physical organization patterns.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.The claim assumes physicalists must reject all intensional talk; they can accept intentionality as emergent from physical systems without contradiction.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Stimulus meaning reduces to physical dispositions to respond, but synonymy requires sameness of meaning content, not behavioral equivalence.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Any account of when two stimuli produce identical behavioral responses requires reference to intentional states (beliefs, desires) external behaviorism excludes.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Quine's own indeterminacy of translation thesis shows stimulus meaning cannot ground sameness of meaning across different speakers or contexts.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.