Externalism Essays

  • Ernest Sosa: Externalism

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ernest Sosa: Externalism Ernest Sosa likes externalism. He thinks that it is intuitively correct. But he must and does agree that it must be clarified in order to avoid certain problems. So, his mission in this paper is to first define what he calls "Generic Reliabilism," then to show how it is susceptible to certain objections, then to present a modified version of it, and to show that this new version is, in general, better than its predecessor. Let us look at his argument. First,

  • Internalism vs Externalism

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    Internalism vs. Externalism Knowledge can be achieved either through the justification of a true belief or for the substantive externalist, through a “natural or law like connection between the truth of what is believed and the person’s belief” (P.135). Suppose a man named George was implanted with a chip at birth, which causes him to utter the time in a rare Russian dialect. His girlfriend Irina, who happens to speak the same Russian dialect, realizes that every time she taps his shoulder, he tells

  • Why Is Externalism Justified

    2301 Words  | 5 Pages

    We need justification for our beliefs. The idea is that where do these justifications come from. Are they based on good reasoning, evidence, personal experiences, or etc.? The broader question is whether justification is something internal or external? I believe one should be externalist about justification. What is Internalism? Internalists argue that someone is justified about something if the thinker can recognize things from the inside. Only things that one has “first-person access”

  • Introspective Knowledge and Displaced Perception

    2130 Words  | 5 Pages

    Representational Thesis. Dretske takes introspective knowledge to be a given and proceeds by trying to explain how such knowledge is possible without appealing to an ‘inner sense’, an idea that seems to conflict with the Thesis’s commitment to externalism about the content of mental states. To this end, he proposes that introspection is a species of displaced perception. However, he highlights two important differences between introspective knowledge and other forms of displaced perception that

  • Culture Adoption in Wole Soyinka’s and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Novels

    2656 Words  | 6 Pages

    Colonialism versus Origin Within Wole Soyinka’s and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s intricately weaved novels, both pieces of literature successfully intertwine to portray the estrangement and hardships dealt with through the main characters in settling within a separate environment apart from their origins; culture and adopting the colonial mentality which is imposed upon them. There is a negative portrayal of the colonial mentality that manifests onto the African society. There are three major categories

  • Examples Of Active Externalism

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Extended Mind,” Andy Clark and David Chalmers’ argue for what they call “active externalism.” This theory holds that the meaning of mental content is not just in our heads, but external to the mind where environment plays an active role in deriving mental processes. As part of this lengthy paper, Clark and Chalmers propose a theory of memory that holds that memory is a kind of mental storage recorded in the mind, as if the facts were recorded in a notebook. As that in my term paper I will

  • The Meaning Of Intension In Hilary Putnam's Externalism

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the background of Hilary Putnam’s externalism is the opposing philosophical descriptive assumption that meaning in the sense of extension is determined by intension. This contention comes out clearly in the typical example of finding out the meaning of natural kind in which the compound terms ‘creatures with a heart’ and ‘creatures with a kidney’ differ considerably though having the same extensions because there is in another sense in which the meaning of these terms is not its extensions but

  • Sexual Use and What to Do about It

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    activity is viewed as harmful to both the person doing the objectifying and the person being objectified. Soble outlines “Kant’s sex problem” and Kant’s solution, Soble also gives his own solutions, and in learning both I feel the solution is in externalism. Immanuel Kant defines his second formulation of the Categorical Imperative as knowing the value of a person. It is demeaning to use a person without his or her consent for self-gratification, especially sexually. Kant describes this as using a

  • Human Mind is Determined by the Body in the Emodiment Theory

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    skull, and say that what is outside the body is outside the mind. Others are impressed by arguments suggesting that the meaning of our words aren’t in our mind, and hold that this externalism about meaning carries over into an externalism about mind. We advocate a very different sort of externalism: an active externalism, based on the active role of the environment in driving cognitive processes. What is memory for and how does it work? Suppose that memory and conceptualization work in the service

  • Alan Soble’s article “Sexual Use and What to do about It

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    engage in sexual acts for procreation. Kant’s own solution to the sexual problem is that sexual activity is permissible only in the context of heterosexual, monogamous lifelong marriage. In this case, Kant’s solution to the problem is a thick externalism that is minimalist. Howard Williams made a shrewd observation on Kant’s solution that the most significant of Kant’s argument involves treating oneself and their partners as objects. Therefore, this clearly, demonstrate that marriage is the only

  • The Extended Mind Hypothesis

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    peoples minds) to which we can have ready access, can rely on and trust as we would our own minds. These devices would be in a similar mode or state as the subconscious mind, that is; they would embody dispositional beliefs. This is known as active externalism. Clark and Chalmers begin with a case to illustrate why the mind is extended whereby a person has the option to use their mind (a), use a physical computational aid (b), or a futuristic neural computational brain implant (c) to solve a problem

  • Reliabilism Analysis

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    is true, (2) this person believes that p is true, and that (3) this person has come to the conclusion p via a reliable belief-forming process. A “reliable belief-forming process” could simply be a perceptive act, since reliabilism entails externalism. Externalism claims that you can have knowledge despite not knowing how you came about it (knowing the evidence), exactly. For example, imagine a boy sitting on the beach. He sees a woman walking past him no more than twenty feet away and forms the belief

  • Brain-In-A-Vat Argument For External World Skepticism

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    object to reliabilism. It can also be used in defense of external world skepticism. Reliabilism is a theory that knowledge is justified true belief, but justification depends on the reliability of the process. Reliabilism is also an externalism point of view. Externalism is the

  • Michael Smith Externalist

    3160 Words  | 7 Pages

    Smith’s Externalist ‘Moral Fetishist’ A Critique of Smith’s depiction of the moral fetishist; the morally perfect person. Abstract The argument between the internalists and externalists in metaethical moral psychology is one that is at a stalemate. One of the most important debates took place in Analysis between Michael Smith and Alexander MIller, both of whom seem to fail in presenting a wholly conclusive and convincing argument. This article will examine these arguments in turn - focussing

  • William Payne Alston Research Paper

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    He was famous for his glorious views over Internalism Versus Externalism, Foundationalism, epistemic values, speech acts and various other subjects. He was one of the analytic philosophers of America and he did a great job in various philosophies along with many other philosophers. He played a great role in Reformed

  • Skepticism: Comparing Descartes And Hume

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    Isabel Perez 11/25/2015 Mr. Rodgers Philosophy 1301 Skepticism Skepticism is the process of relating reason and critical thinking to define validity. It's the development of finding a supported conclusion, not the justification of a preconceived conclusion. “The scientific method requires evidence, preferably derived from validated testing. Anecdotal evidence and personal testimonies generally don't meet the qualifications for scientific evidence, and thus won't often be accepted by a responsible

  • Robert Nozick's Tracking Theory of Knowledge in Philosophical Explanations

    630 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nozick does not care what method is used. This is seen by the fact that Nozick makes no mention of any limitations. In fact Nozick states that we don’t even have to know which method is used . This makes sense as this is an externalist theory and externalism states that ... ... middle of paper ... ...e theory already allows for knowledge. This does not follow as we are not justified in holding step one without a proper method. Step one is needed to justify three and four, you are not justified in

  • How can acousmatic music communicate its intention to the listener?

    2012 Words  | 5 Pages

    Acousmatic music can be challenging to communicate its intention to the listener. Unlike traditional music their is 'no score, no system and no pre-segmented discrete units like notes' (Anderson, 2007; p. 2). Acousmatic music uses what is heard without seeing or knowing the physical origin of the sound as a compositional tool (Contré, WWW). 'It is a type of electroacoustic music, which exists in a recorded format, transmitted and perceived, during performances, via the loudspeaker' (Anderson, p.

  • Hume Empiricism

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    falsity of most of what we believe about the world. Professor McLaughlin asks whether these hypotheses are coherent and thus whether they can tell us anything about what are entitled to believe, or to claim to know. He concludes that, semantic externalism notwithstanding, these hypotheses are both coherent and threatening

  • Realist Conceptualism By Quine And The Existence Of Conceptism

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    Furthermore, the realist holds that the existence of universals follows that that words such as ‘red’ have a particular meaning, and the meaning itself will be a universal of a sort. This is refuted by Quine holding that the use of predicates can be adequately accounted for without supposing that universals or meanings exist (Loux 2006: 36). He reasons that meaningfulness of sentences do not possess an abstract universal of ‘meaning’. The rejection of the attempt to introduce universals as ‘meanings’