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    Internalism about meaning provides a better account of ex... — Carmelics
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    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    Internalism about meaning provides a better account of expressions like 'line' than the view that meanings determine extensions.

    Philosophy of Language
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The internalist can say that the meaning of 'line' is an instruction to fetch one of a family of concepts.
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    • 2.This internalist account does not require treating 'line' as homophonous.
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    • 3.Treating 'line' as homophonous is implausible given the felt sameness of sense across uses.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Putnam's Twin Earth argument shows that extension can diverge from internal mental states while meaning remains constant, undermining internalist sufficiency.
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    • 2.If 'water' means H2O even for speakers ignorant of chemistry, then meanings are partly constituted by external factors, not internal instructions alone.
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    • 3.An account that cannot explain why 'line' in geometry vs. queuing refers to different things without extension has explanatory gaps internalism cannot close.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Kripke's causal-historical theory grounds reference in chains of use tracing to initial baptisms, not internal conceptual instructions.
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    • 2.If the reference of 'line' is fixed by a causal chain to paradigm cases, the 'felt sameness of sense' reflects shared referential history, not shared internal meaning.
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    Philosophy of Language

    Related

    An account that cannot explain why 'line' in geometry vs. queuing refers to diff...If 'water' means H2O even for speakers ignorant of chemistry, then meanings are ...If the reference of 'line' is fixed by a causal chain to paradigm cases, the 'fe...Kripke's causal-historical theory grounds reference in chains of use tracing to ...
    +4 moreShow less
    Putnam's Twin Earth argument shows that extension can diverge from internal ment...The internalist can say that the meaning of 'line' is an instruction to fetch on...This internalist account does not require treating 'line' as homophonous.Treating 'line' as homophonous is implausible given the felt sameness of sense a...

    Similar

    Rules of meaning are rules for the use of expressions that determine t...79%The view that expressions have meanings which determine extensions imp...79%If meanings determine extensions, then expressions with multiple disti...76%Numbers, lines, and shapes can be identified with extensions of concep...75%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: meaning
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    The defender of the view that expressions have meanings which determine extensions seems forced to say that “line” and “door” are homophonous expressions, like “bank”. But that seems implausible; when one uses the expressions “fishing line” and “line of thought” one seems to be using “line” in recognizably the same sense. (This is a point of contrast with standard examples of homophony, as when uses “bank” once to refer to a financial institution and then later to refer to the side of a river.)
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

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