There is always empirical uncertainty in attributing unde... — Carmelics

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There is always empirical uncertainty in attributing understanding even to humans.

Consciousness & Mind

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1 reason for

2 reasons against

Reasons For

1 perspective

Reason for

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1.Attribution of mental states to any system — human or otherwise — is underdetermined by behavioral evidence.
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2.Quine's analysis of language and meaning shows that understanding cannot be read off from observable behavior alone.
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Reasons Against

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Reason against 1 of 2

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1.First-person access to one's own understanding is epistemically privileged in a way that third-person behavioral observation is not.
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2.Cartesian indubitability of one's own mental states establishes an asymmetry: I cannot be empirically uncertain that I understand, even if others can be uncertain about me.
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3.This asymmetry means the claim conflates the epistemic situation of the observer with that of the subject, collapsing a crucial distinction.
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Reason against 2 of 2

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