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    Carmelics

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

    It is not the case that The informativeness of 'Hesperus is Phosphorus' is fully explained by epistemic differences in how agents acquire names, requiring no difference in semantic content between the names themselves.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Semantic content must explain why 'Hesperus is Phosphorus' informs us while 'Hesperus is Hesperus' does not—pure epistemic differences cannot do this alone.
      ?

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    • 2.If names lacked distinct semantic contents, rational agents with identical referential knowledge but different name acquisition methods would be semantically identical.
      ?

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    • 3.The truth conditions of ascriptions like 'Smith believes Hesperus rises' differ from 'Smith believes Phosphorus rises,' suggesting the names carry distinct semantic content.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Names are fundamentally tools for reference acquisition; their cognitive role depends on causal-historical chains, not intrinsic semantic properties.
      ?

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    • 2.The informativeness of 'Hesperus is Phosphorus' vanishes once agents recognize both names track the same object, confirming epistemic differences suffice.
      ?

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    • 3.Attributing distinct semantic contents to coreferential names multiplies entities beyond necessity without explaining the name's utility or cognitive distinctness.
      ?

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