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    The memory argument against externalism fails because pre... — Carmelics
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    The memory argument against externalism fails because premise (a) is false

    Philosophy of Language
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    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

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    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.On reliabilist accounts (Goldman 1986), knowledge requires a reliable causal connection between belief and fact, not merely preserved neural states.
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    • 2.When the slow-switch alters the environmental fact that constitutes the content, the causal chain is severed regardless of neurological continuity.
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    • 3.Therefore, content-loss in slow-switch cases is constitutively a form of knowledge loss, making premise (a)'s restriction to forgetting a category error.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.Burge's own anti-individualism entails that mental content is partly individuated by environmental and social context, not by intrinsic brain states.
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    • 2.If content is environmentally constituted, then environmental change just is a change in what is known, collapsing the distinction between forgetting and content-shift.
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    • 3.Premise (a) presupposes an internalist conception of memory content that externalists are already committed to rejecting on independent grounds.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Oscar does not forget in the strict neurological sense, since no neurological impairment has occurred
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    • 2.Oscar nonetheless loses memory content due to the slow switch scenario
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    • 3.Knowledge can be lost by routes other than forgetting
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    Philosophy of LanguageTruth & Knowledge

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    Related

    Burge's own anti-individualism entails that mental content is partly individuate...If content is environmentally constituted, then environmental change just is a c...If premise (a) of the memory argument — that knowledge loss requires forgetting ...Knowledge can be lost by routes other than forgetting
    +6 moreShow less
    On reliabilist accounts (Goldman 1986), knowledge requires a reliable causal con...Oscar does not forget in the strict neurological sense, since no neurological im...Oscar nonetheless loses memory content due to the slow switch scenarioPremise (a) presupposes an internalist conception of memory content that externa...Therefore, content-loss in slow-switch cases is constitutively a form of knowled...When the slow-switch alters the environmental fact that constitutes the content,...

    Similar

    EXT (externalism) does not secure the apriority of premise (1) even if...85%The Classical Argument against externalism fails because it either has...84%Warfield can justify a priori knowledge of premise 2 on the basis of e...77%Content externalism is true.77%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: self-knowledge-externalism
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    It may be quite unintuitive to see memory in this way, and we shall attend to objections shortly. But it is worth noting that the view allows an externalist to resist the memory argument. A compatibilist might first grant that Oscar does not forget strictly speaking—after all, we can assume no neurological impairment has occurred in him. Yet she can add that Oscar loses some memory content regardless, thanks to the slow switch. Even though Oscar does not truly “forget,” he has still lost knowled
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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