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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The character of a demonstrative is a rule that maps contextual qualitative features to referents, making description-independence illusory.

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Demonstratives can function without any contextual feature mapping if direct causal-perceptual contact with objects grounds reference directly.
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    • 2.Even if character maps qualitative features to referents, this doesn't render description-independence illusory—it just explains how context grounds reference.
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    • 3.The claim conflates two issues: how demonstratives work (via context) with whether descriptive content is essential to their meaning (a separate question).
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Demonstratives like 'this' succeed in reference by exploiting contextual features (gesture, salience, proximity), not by descriptive content alone.
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    • 2.Two contexts with identical qualitative descriptions can fix different referents via demonstrative use, showing description underdetermines reference.
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    • 3.The character of a demonstrative must be a rule mapping context to referent; otherwise demonstratives lack systematic meaning across uses.
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