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    We ought not to speak of unknown modes of Being using any... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    We ought not to speak of unknown modes of Being using any names we currently possess.

    Philosophy of Language
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.All names we possess stand for known modes of Being.
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    • 2.There may be modes of Being inaccessible to our faculties that we are unable to name.
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    • 3.Names that stand for known modes of Being are inapplicable to unknown modes of Being.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Language functions not only to designate known referents but to gesture toward, approximate, and probe the boundaries of the unknown.
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    • 2.Apophatic theology (Pseudo-Dionysius, Maimonides) demonstrates that names applied negatively or analogically to unknowable Being yield genuine cognitive and linguistic work.
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    • 3.If names could not be extended beyond their original epistemic domain, no conceptual revision or scientific discovery could be linguistically expressed.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Frege's distinction between sense and reference allows a name to carry determinate sense even when its reference is incompletely or imperfectly known.
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    • 2.A name like 'dark matter' refers to an unknown mode of physical being while its descriptive sense ('matter detectable only by gravitational effects') remains meaningful and scientifically indispensable.
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    Topics

    Philosophy of Language

    Connections

    2 topics

    Truth & Knowledge2 linkedSkepticism2 linked

    Related

    A name like 'dark matter' refers to an unknown mode of physical being while its ...All names we possess stand for known modes of Being.Apophatic theology (Pseudo-Dionysius, Maimonides) demonstrates that names applie...Frege's distinction between sense and reference allows a name to carry determina...
    +4 moreShow less
    If names could not be extended beyond their original epistemic domain, no concep...Language functions not only to designate known referents but to gesture toward, ...Names that stand for known modes of Being are inapplicable to unknown modes of B...There may be modes of Being inaccessible to our faculties that we are unable to ...

    Similar

    All names we possess stand for known modes of Being.88%Names that stand for known modes of Being are inapplicable to unknown ...87%Some names must therefore denote more than one thing, creating ambiguo...74%Each name in a given language is the appropriate and natural way to re...73%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: mill
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    It would, no doubt, be absurd to assume that our words exhaust the possibilities of Being. There may be innumerable modes of it which are inaccessible to our faculties, and which consequently we are unable to name. But we ought not to speak of these modes of Being by any of the names we possess. These are all inapplicable, because they all stand for known modes of Being. (Examination, IX: 11)
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

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