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    Carmelics

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

    It is not the case that Wittgenstein's rule-following considerations establish that linguistic meaning is constituted by communal practice, not prior metaphysical structures.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Communities themselves require rule-following: explaining meaning via communal practice presupposes the very concept of rule-following it purports to ground.
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    • 2.Mathematical and logical truths appear mind-independent: their objective validity suggests meaning transcends contingent communal agreement.
      ?

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    • 3.Wittgenstein's argument overgeneralizes: some meanings (e.g., 'pain') may have both communal and phenomenological foundations, not purely social constitution.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Private ostensive definition fails: individuals cannot establish meaning alone without public criteria of correctness from community practices.
      ?

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    • 2.Meaning requires normativity: only shared social practices provide the communal standards that distinguish correct from incorrect rule-following.
      ?

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    • 3.Empirically, children acquire language through socialization, not by consulting pre-existing metaphysical essences independent of cultural context.
      ?

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