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    Made withinDC&Austin
    Fodor's use of the label 'individualism' for methodologic... — Carmelics
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    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    Fodor's use of the label 'individualism' for methodological individualism is misleading.

    Consciousness & MindPhilosophy of Language
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    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Fodor explicitly defines individualism as supervenience on intrinsic physical properties, excluding all relational properties by stipulation.
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    • 2.Burge's twin-earth cases show mental content can differ while intrinsic physical properties are identical, directly violating Fodor's stated criterion.
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    • 3.A label that excludes the very relational individuation Objection 1 permits is systematically misleading about the doctrine's actual scope.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The term 'methodological individualism' in social science (Weber, Hayek) concerns explanatory reduction to individual agents, not supervenience on intrinsic properties.
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    • 2.Fodor's appropriation of the term conflates two distinct doctrines: explanatory reductionism and narrow content internalism.
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    • 3.Deploying a term with established meaning in a conflicting technical sense generates confusion that undermines precise philosophical debate.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Methodological individualism does not prohibit relational individuation of mental states — it only requires that any individuating property, relational or otherwise, must affect causal powers.
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    • 2.The relations that affect causal powers could include relations to other speakers, not just to the physical world.
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    • 3.A doctrine that permits individuation via relations to other speakers is not 'individualistic' in the ordinary sense.
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    Philosophy of LanguageConsciousness & Mind

    Related

    A doctrine that permits individuation via relations to other speakers is not 'in...A label that excludes the very relational individuation Objection 1 permits is s...Burge's twin-earth cases show mental content can differ while intrinsic physical...Deploying a term with established meaning in a conflicting technical sense gener...
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    Fodor explicitly defines individualism as supervenience on intrinsic physical pr...Fodor's appropriation of the term conflates two distinct doctrines: explanatory ...Methodological individualism does not prohibit relational individuation of menta...The relations that affect causal powers could include relations to other speaker...The term 'methodological individualism' in social science (Weber, Hayek) concern...

    Similar

    Popper's methodological individualism was actually a form of metaphysi...89%Watkins reformulated methodological individualism as the claim that th...83%A doctrine that permits individuation via relations to other speakers ...78%Alyngton's analysis of terms like 'individual' as range-narrowed singu...78%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: methodological-individualism
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    The issue comes down to one concerning the individuation of mental states. How do we determine what is and is not the “same” belief? Fodor begins by introducing the constraint that he calls “methodological individualism,” viz., “the doctrine that psychological states are individuated with respect to their causal powers” (1987, 42). This implies, among other things, that if one psychological state is incapable of causing anything different to happen than some other psychological state, then the t
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    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit