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    Made withinDC&Austin
    The structure of the secret entails that possessing a sec... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
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    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    The structure of the secret entails that possessing a secret and not possessing it are simultaneous.

    Modality & PossibilityPhilosophy of Language
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.To keep a secret one must form a representation of it to oneself, which breaks the promise not to tell.
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    • 2.Breaking the promise not to tell is equivalent to not keeping the secret.
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    • 3.Thus the act of keeping the secret is identical with the act of not keeping the secret.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Knowing-that and communicating-that are categorically distinct mental acts, as Grice's distinction between natural and non-natural meaning establishes.
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    • 2.Forming an internal representation of a secret does not constitute an illocutionary act of disclosure, since disclosure requires an addressee.
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    • 3.Therefore, representing a secret to oneself breaks no communicative promise and leaves possession of the secret intact.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Wittgenstein's private language argument implies that secrets are constituted through social practices of concealment, not through a private inner representation.
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    • 2.If secrecy is a social practice rather than a mental state, one can participate in that practice—actively withholding—without any self-directed representation that 'breaks' a promise.
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    • 3.The supporting argument therefore commits a category error by treating keeping-a-secret as an episode of inner speech rather than a sustained pattern of behavior.
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    Topics

    Philosophy of LanguageModality & Possibility

    Connections

    2 topics

    Justice & Punishment1 linkedMoral Responsibility1 linked

    Related

    Breaking the promise not to tell is equivalent to not keeping the secret.Forming an internal representation of a secret does not constitute an illocution...If secrecy is a social practice rather than a mental state, one can participate ...Knowing-that and communicating-that are categorically distinct mental acts, as G...
    +5 moreShow less
    The supporting argument therefore commits a category error by treating keeping-a...Therefore, representing a secret to oneself breaks no communicative promise and ...Thus the act of keeping the secret is identical with the act of not keeping the ...

    Similar

    A secret as such does not exist; every secret is necessarily shared.81%Thus the act of keeping the secret is identical with the act of not ke...79%If the secret must necessarily be shareable, it is always already shar...79%To genuinely possess a secret, one must tell it to oneself, forming an...79%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: derrida
    View source passageHide passage
    Now, let us go to another “other place,” which can be found in “How to Avoid Speaking.” Here Derrida discusses negative theology by means of the idea of “dénégation,” “denegation” or “denial.” The French word “dénégation” translates Freud’s term “Verneinung.” Both words’ prefixes imply an emphasis of negation (although the French prefix also implies a negation of a negation). Yet, within psychoanalysis and in particular in Freud, the term ,“Verneinung” implies that when the patient denies a desi
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

    To keep a secret one must form a representation of it to oneself, which breaks t...
    Wittgenstein's private language argument implies that secrets are constituted th...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit