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    Carmelics

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    Made withinDC&Austin
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    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Indexicality does not imply non-rigidity

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    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Kaplan's distinction between character and content shows that rigidity is a property of content, but indexicals are individuated by their context-sensitive character.
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    • 2.An expression whose very semantic rule encodes context-sensitivity is non-rigid at the level that matters for semantic competence, even if its content is rigid at a world.
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    • 3.Conflating rigidity of content with rigidity of the expression itself smuggles in a level-confusion that undermines the original claim's scope.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.Dummett and Evans argued that the cognitive significance of an expression is partly constituted by its mode of presentation, not merely its extensional behavior across worlds.
      ?

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    • 2.Indexicals like 'I' and 'now' carry essentially context-dependent modes of presentation that make their reference systematically shift with context, which is the hallmark of non-rigidity in any epistemically robust sense.
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    • 3.A notion of rigidity that abstracts away from mode of presentation is too coarse-grained to capture the semantic phenomena that distinguish indexicals from ordinary proper names.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The indexical expression 'I', when uttered in a fixed context, continues to refer to the same individual when evaluated at counterfactual circumstances
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    • 2.An expression that rigidly designates its referent from a fixed context across all circumstances of evaluation is rigid, even if it would refer to a different individual were it uttered in a different context
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    • 3.'I am tired', uttered in a fixed context, rigidly designates the speaker of that context even though 'I' is an indexical
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