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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 The Cartesian assumption that one can be a lone thinker is mistaken

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Having thoughts with content requires triangulation with other thinking creatures
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A lone thinker by definition lacks other thinking creatures to triangulate with
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Therefore a lone thinker cannot have thoughts with content, and thus cannot be a thinker at all
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Wittgenstein's private language argument shows that meaning requires public criteria of correctness that no solitary mind can self-supply.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Without external standards to distinguish 'following a rule' from 'seeming to follow a rule', no genuine intentional content can be fixed.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Therefore the very intelligibility of Cartesian first-person certainty presupposes the intersubjective framework it claims to precede.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Davidson's anomalous monism entails that propositional attitudes are individuated only through interpretive triangulation with world and other speakers.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A lone thinker has no third-corner triangulation point, so no determinate fact fixes whether its states are beliefs about fire or about warmth.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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