Phl232 University Of Toronto Study Guide Questions And Correct Answers

Putnam's First Argument for Semantic Externalism (from ordinary speaker intuition) {Ans: Churchill and the ant question. It's an explaination for the answer 'no' that the representation requires a causal connection in our language.}Objections to Externalist's Response to Scepticism {Ans: There are several cases where the argument may not hold: (i) I became a brain in a vat yesterday. (ii) I have always been a brain in a vat, but I talk to ordinary (embodied) people all the time. My friends don't tell me that I am a brain in a vat because they know that I would be horrified.... (iii) We all became brains in vats five minutes ago. (iv) I am now dreaming. (v) I was created as an already fully thinking and speaking brain in a vat by an intelligent creator who inhabits an ordinary world of tables, chairs, grass, trees, and so on. These make it possible that brains* are oridinary brains and vats* are ordinary vats.}Descriptive Account {Ans: Lays down how people act in accordance with a practice, and tells us how the practice is, not whether it's right or wrong.}Problems with Contextualism {Ans: - It's too fragile (cleverly painted mule example)