Semantic externalism (Putnam, Burge) establishes that representational content is fixed by mind-independent environmental and social facts, not solely by agents' mental capacities.

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Hilary Putnam(as a reference to a specific philosopher's arguments): An influential American philosopher (1926-2016) who made major contributions to philosophy of mind and language; he's famous for arguing that the same mental state could be realized in different physical ways.
Mental capacities(contrasted with external factors in determining meaning): The abilities and processes happening inside a person's mind, like thinking, reasoning, or imagining.
Representational content(as what explains how our beliefs can mean something): The ability of thoughts, mental images, or beliefs to be 'about' something in the real world—like how the thought 'it's raining' represents an actual weather condition.
Tyler Burge(the statement is about his specific theory): A contemporary American philosopher famous for arguing that what we think and mean isn't just in our heads—it depends on the world around us and other people.

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