Mon, 30 November 2015
On "The Meaning of Meaning" (1975). If meaning is not a matter of having a description in your head, then what is it? Hilary Putnam reformulates Kripke's insight (from #126) in terms of Twin Earths: Earthers with H20 and Twin Earthers with a substance that seems like water but is different have the same mental contents but are referring to different stuff with "water," so that word is speaker-relative in a certain way. With guest Matt Teichman. End song: "In the Boatyard" by Mark Lint & the Madison Lint Ensemble (2004, finished now). |
Mon, 23 November 2015
Continuing on Experience and Nature (1925), through ch. 4. We focus here on how philosophy supposedly gets warped by fear and desire in human nature, how we pretend that abstractions we've created are metaphysically real and basic. So how do the objects of our experience, then, relate to those of science? And can we talk about "ends" (teleology) when doing science? Learn more. Listen to part one first, or get the ad-free Citizen edition.
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Mon, 16 November 2015
On Experience and Nature (1925), through ch. 4. What's the relationship between our experience and the world that science investigates? Dewey thinks that these are one and the same, and philosophies that call some part of it (like atoms or Platonic forms) the real part while the experienced world is a distortion are unjustified. End song: "Uncontrollable Fear" by The MayTricks from So Chewy! (1993). |
Mon, 9 November 2015
Continuing on Naming and Necessity (1980). What's the relationship between language and the world? We try on Kripke's ideas and see what this makes us think about natural kind terms (like "tiger"), about physical objects, about substances identified by science, about heat vs. the feeling of heat, and about pain. Listen to part one first or get the Citizen Edition. Read more about the topic and get the book. End song: "Reason Enough" by Mark Lint. Read about it.
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Mon, 2 November 2015
On Naming and Necessity (1980). What's the relationship between language and the world? Specifically, what makes a name or a class term pick out the person or things that it does? Saul Kripke wanted to correct the dominant view of his time (which involved a description in the speaker's mind), and used talk of "possible worlds" to do it! With guest Matt Teichman. End song: "Reason Enough" by Mark Lint. |