Meaning and reference hilary putnam the journal of philosophy. What i dont understand is why he used an example grounded in chemistry. The reference of the word water did not change on either earth or twinearth between 1750 before the chemical constitution of water was discovered and the present. But while most of the discussion has taken place within the context of the. The twin earth chronicles twenty years of reflection on hilary putnam s the meaning of. Hilary putnam, an american philosopher known for his broad thinking, vivid arguments and willingness to change his mind. On twin earth, everything looks, tastes, smells, and feels exactly the same as it does on earth. Putnam is famous for important and seminal work in just about every sub eld in philosophy. Reviewed by gabor forrai, university of miskolc the book is an outgrowth of a 1998 conference held at the nicholas copernicus university in toru poland, for which hilary putnam was the keynote speaker.
This work contains writings on the subject of twin earth. Pdf moral realism and moral twin earth researchgate. In the 1970s hilary putnam introduced us to twinearth 1975. Pdf the twin earth chronicles twenty years of reflection. Click download or read online button to get the twin earth chronicles book now. The twin earth thought experiment was one of three, the other two being the aluminum. Students and scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines will be familiar with hilary putnam. How does putnams twin earth thought experiment disprove. To me the subject matter renders it less comprehensible speaking. What are the ultimate goals of the philosophy of mind. The twin earth thought experiment is as follows1,2. Hilary putnam, the philosopher of science who didnt mind refuting himself. Cognitive science and the twinearth problem project euclid.
Full text of putnam, hilary reason, truth and history see other formats. In the famous twin earth thought experiment in putnam 1975, we are asked to imagine that in 1750, there was a remote planet, twin earth, which was exactly like earth except that instead of water h 2 o, it has a different substance, twinwater, composed of a different chemical compound xyz. Twin earth is a planet elsewhere in the galaxy that is exactly like earth except for one thing. If we were to discover that the pencils of twin earth are superficially indistinguishable from our pencils, but on closer examination turn out to have a different microstructuretheyre organisms we would not have discovered that there are pencils on twin earth, but they are organisms.
Twin earth is a thought experiment by philosopher hilary putnam, first in his paper meaning and reference 1973, and then in his paper the meaning of. The twin earth thought experiment university of oxford. But while most of the discussion has taken place within the context of the philosophy of mind and language, terence horgan and mark timmons h8ct have defended the intriguing suggestion that a variation on the original. The stronger putnam thesis implies that the meanings of ones words are not determined by ones total psychological state. Semantic externalism denies that facts about speakers minds determine meaning, and putnams twin earth thought experiment is meant to demonstrate this. Meaning and reference hilary putnam the journal of.
Full text of putnam, hilary reason, truth and history. If we take oscar on earth and his twin on twinearth, putnam argues that they would refer to two different substances and hence mean two different things. Twin earth is a thought experiment by philosopher hilary putnam, first in his paper meaning and reference 1973, and then in his paper the meaning of meaning 1975, to illustrate his argument for semantic externalism, or the view that the meanings of words are ultimately not purely psychological. Hilary putnams twin earth thought experiment has come to have an enormous impact on contemporary philosophical thought. As it was originally conceived, twinearth looks, feels, sounds, smells, tastes, and in every.
Putnam asks us to consider a world called twin earth which is exactly similar to earth including in the languages spoken, physical properties exhibited by all things, and so forth except that on twin earth, the liquid called water isnt h20, but rather is a molecule with a complicated chemical formula, abbreviated xyz. Fodors representational theory of the mind, and putnams twinearth examples. In 1975, putnam published a paper called the meaning of meaning, which challenged the orthodox view in the philosophies of language and mind. At first glance, externalism is incompatible with our ordinary conception of authoritative self. Externalism about mental content stanford encyclopedia of. Information for this video gathered from the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, the. To illustrate his point, putnam devised a twin earth scenario. Oudce hilary term 20 peter wyss the twin earth thought experiment putnams argument. Hilary putnam, born july 31, 1926, chicago, illinois, u.
He was wellgrounded in physics and mathematics but strongly resisted the dominance of. Earth twin earth people speak english corresponding people speak an almost indistinguishable language. This is an explanation of hilary putnams twin earth thought experiment and its contribution to the philosophy of language. Hilary putnam see especially 9 imagines a place thats just like here except for certain peculiarities of microchemistry. Putnam brings the idea that there is an earth exactly like ours aka a twin earth. Putnam states that somewhere, there is a earth exactly like ours a twin earth, where he states that earth has h20, and twin earth has a same substance but composed of different chemicals, xyz, and that both planets would thrive the same exact way, and the difference wouldnt affect either planet because basically peoples thoughts are what give things meaning. A three minute description of hilary putnam s famous twin earth thought experiment in philosophy of language. Hilary putnam s twin earth thought experiment has come to have an enormous impact on contemporary philosophical thought.
Read download the complete earth chronicles pdf pdf. Premise 1 is backed by the principle that knowledge is closed under known entailment hilary putnam, brains in a vat philpapers. Suppose there exists a twin earth that is physically identical to earth. Oudce hilary term 20 peter wyss the twin earth thought experiment putnam s argument. On putnam michael maynord hilary putnam has made major contributions to philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. Since hilary putnam presented the twin earth case in the. I understand that putnam was using the twin earth thought experiment to illustrate that on both earth and twin earth individuals may have the same word for something e. Earth twinearth people speak english corresponding people speak an almost indistinguishable language.
He states the earth has h2o and the same substance but with different chemicals, but. In philosophy of mind, he developed the theories of multiple instantiability and. The twin earth chronicles download ebook pdf, epub. On mind, meaning and reality interview by josh harlan hrp. Putnams logic of natural kind terms article pdf available in international journal of philosophical studies 92. Say there is in actuality not one, but two earths, perhaps in parallel universes. The articles twin earth conclusions about meaning, thought and knowledge were shocking. Download the twin earth chronicles or read online books in pdf, epub, tuebl, and mobi format.
Hilary putnam, who may have been the first philosopher to advance the notion that the computer is an apt model for the mind, takes a radically new view of his own theory of functionalism in this book. Hilary putnam putnam in 2006 born hilary whitehall putnam 19260731 july 31, 1926 chicago, illinois, u. The twin earth argument to show that whats in the heads of earthians and twin earthians is the same, putnam adds a new wrinkle to the twin earth story. What distinguishes the philosophy of mind from such fields as neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychology. First take 1 if linguistic internalism is true, then it is not possible that two speakers are in the same mental psychological state, but refer to different objects or facts. Our pdf compression tool quickly reduces the size of your pdf file so its easier to share. Water is wet, stone is cold and hard, gold is shiny and golden, etc. Imagine that the time is 1750, before we earthians had any idea about the chemical structure of water. Hilary putnam, the philosopher of science who didnt mind. The meaning of meaning hilary putnams classic twin. Hilary putnam meaning and reference article summary. If we take oscar on earth and his twin on twinearth, putnam argues that they would refer to vqt different substances and hence mean two different things. But on twin earth, everything has different molecular structures than earth. Pdf the complete earth chronicles download full pdf.
Symmetrically, if a space ship from twin earth ever visits. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. The twin earth cases demonstrate, according to putnam, a social aspect in naturalkind terms, that does not exist in indexicals. Putnam did make clear, however, in what way naturalkind terms like water, gold, elm, beech.