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    Carmelics

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

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    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 "I" is an indexical expression.

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

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.On Frege's view, 'I' has a peculiar sense that each person grasps immediately and solely from the first-person perspective.
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    • 2.If 'I' carried only a context-shifting reference rule (as indexicals do), it could not explain the distinctive epistemic role of first-person thought that makes 'I am in pain' cognitively irreducible to 'NN is in pain'.
      ?

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    • 3.An expression whose semantic contribution is exhausted by a context-to-referent rule cannot account for the irreducible first-person mode of presentation, so 'I' must have stable sense beyond mere indexicality.
      ?

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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Castañeda's theory of 'quasi-indicators' shows that first-person self-reference in indirect discourse resists substitution by any third-person term, including indexicals like 'he'.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If 'I' behaved as a standard indexical, its content in reported speech could be captured by a coreferring expression like 'she' or 'that person,' but 'Mary believes she* is hungry' is not equivalent to 'Mary believes I am hungry' even when 'she*' is bound to Mary.
      ?

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    • 3.The irreducible reflexivity of first-person belief reports demonstrates that 'I' tracks something beyond the context-relative reference that defines indexicality.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Mary said "I am hungry," meaning Mary is hungry — not that Sam is hungry.
      ?

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    • 2.Sam's report that Mary said Sam is hungry is false.
      ?

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    • 3.The falsity of Sam's report shows that "I am hungry" has a different content out of Mary's mouth than out of Sam's mouth.
      ?

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    Next step

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