Reduction and Elimination in Philosophy and the Sciences

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A Division in Mind. The Misconceived Distinction between Psychological and Phenomenal Properties — Matthias Stefan divisible. There are enough examples in human cognition and behaviour that show that the distinction between phenomenal and psychological properties is wrong in case of human beings. To explain machine behaviour in purely functional terms is trivial. But only because such behaviour can be explained by the underlying mechanism doesn’t mean that this is also true in case of humans. Talking about functional explanation of machine behaviour is simply to change the subject. In case of humans, I therefore conclude, Chalmers’ and Kim’s division of the mental cannot be applied. Literature Chalmers, David 1996 The Conscious Mind. In Search of a Fundamental Theory, Oxford. Kim, Jaegwon 2005 Physicalism, or Something Near Enough, Princeton. Levine, Joseph 1983 “Materialism and Qualia: The Explanatory Gap”, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 64, 354-361. Lowe, Jonathan 1995 “There are no Easy Problems of Consciousness”, Journal of Consciousness Studies 2 (3), 266-271. 333
Scepticism, Wittgenstein's Hinge Propositions, and Common Ground Erik Stei, Mainz, Germany 1. Introduction Traditionally, systematic scepticism states that knowing a contingent proposition p, e. g., that I have hands, entails that I know the denial of a sceptical hypothesis (sh), e. g., that I am a brain in a vat. Because sh is usually formulated in a way that apparently makes it impossible for me to know its denial on basis of my evidence, it seems as if I do not know p. More formally, the sceptical argument looks like this 1 : 334 (1) a. K(S, p) → K(S, ¬sh) b. ¬K(S, ¬sh) c. ¬K(S, p) The notorious Moorean response is to make the sceptical modus tollens a modus ponens by affirming the antecedent of (1a) in the second step of the inference, concluding K(S, ¬sh). Effectively, if we want to maintain epistemic closure, (1b) seems to be the crucial step. However, which premise we assume—K(S, p) or ¬K(S, ¬sh)—certainly needs some further justification. The problem is that in an epistemology classroom the sceptic’s story sounds just as plausible as our ordinary knowledge-claims, which seems to leave us in an epistemically underdetermined situation. However, I follow Williams’s (2003) conjecture that the justification of either of the two propositions depends (at least in part) on the question which other propositions we (tacitly) accept in a given context. It is Wittgenstein’s notion of hinge propositions that underpins this thought. 2. Hinge propositions The metaphor of hinges (HP) goes back to a famous paragraph in On Certainty, in which it is employed to illustrate the necessity of accepting certain propositions in order to make sense of doubting others: “That is to say, the questions that we raise and our doubts depend on the fact that some propositions are exempt from doubt, are as it were like hinges on which those turn.” (Wittgenstein 1984: 186 – § 341) 2 Thus if “I make an experiment I do not doubt the existence of the apparatus before my eyes. I have plenty of doubts, but not that” (Wittgenstein 1984: 185). This, however, does not mean that there is a rigid set of self-evident propositions, i. e., Wittgenstein does not advocate a strictly foundationalist conception of justification. This is quite obvious in the following paragraph: 1 Where knowledge is symbolized by a two-place relation K, taking an epistemic subject S and a proposition (p or sh) as arguments. I will disregard time in this paper. 2 Translation of Wittgenstein quotes by Denis Paul and G. E. M. Anscombe, as found on http://budni.by.ru/oncertainty.html on March, 20th, 2008 “But it isn’t that the situation is like this: We just can’t investigate everything, and for that reason we are forced to rest content with assumption. If I want the door to turn, the hinges must stay put.” (Wittgenstein 1984: 187 – § 343) Now, how could these ideas help us with respect to the sceptical problem? A first rough answer is that i) which proposition we are justified in assuming as our second premise (1b) depends on certain HP and that ii) these HP in turn depend on the inquiry we are interested in. Thus, Wittgenstein’s remarks seem to support the idea that a given knowledge claim might vary in truth value, depending on which HP we accept in a conversational context or in certain circumstances of evaluation. 3 If this is correct, then using the notion of HP might strengthen the thesis that knowledge claims are sensitive to contextual factors in a wider sense. 3. Sceptical Presuppositions Before going on, let me briefly sketch another important feature of this view. One dubious point often made in favour of the sceptic is the Cartesian claim that scepticism operates in some kind of neutral context and does not rely on any axioms or assumptions. If this were true then the sceptic would in fact be in a privileged position. However, Williams 2007 offers many arguments for the point that this claim is in fact a platitude, arguing that scepticism does indeed depend on certain assumptions or HP. Many philosophers from quite a diverse range of positions seem to share at least the spirit of this view. From a methodological point of view, Timothy Williamson highlights that “the sceptic relies uncritically on rules of dialectical engagement (…), without questioning their appropriateness to the radical questions which scepticism raises” (Williamson 2000: 188). Another point, addressed by Barry Stroud (Stroud 2000), could be the (traditional) philosopher’s wish to give a completely general account of knowledge. However, even if this general kind of knowledge is not available to us it does not follow that we cannot have any more specific kind of knowledge. Still another presupposition of the sceptic is that our perceptions are independent of how the world really is and that the meanings we assign to words and propositions are in our heads only. It is due to this internalist worry that scepticism seems so convincing, but that is no reason for accepting it. There is of course much more to be said on this topic, but let me adhere without further argument, relying on Wittgenstein, that there must be something the sceptic takes for granted in order to make sense of her worries in the first place. Obviously, this analysis only transfers the problem of underdeterminacy to a meta-level. To see this, let us grant for the moment that according to the above picture the justification for assuming, say, (1b) is that it can be derived from a set of HP operative in a given context. We 3 I am deliberately vague on the mechanisms yielding the truth-value of knowledge claims as I do not want to enter the debate between Contextualism and Subject Sensitive Invariantism. What is important here, however, is that both views hold that a given knowledge claim can vary in truth-value.
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31 Alexander Hieke Hannes Leitgeb H
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Reduktion und Elimination in Philos
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Distributors Die Österreichische L
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6 Inhalt / Contents Wittgenstein me
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8 Inhalt / Contents The Evolution o
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Formal Mechanisms for Reduction in
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4. Property language and theoretica
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imperatives, or commands in the for
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Referential Practice and the Lure o
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The Augustinian account confuses mo
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hurried to fix it on the page. The
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The Essence (?) of Color, According
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Literature Austin, James 1980 “Wi
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Wittgenstein’s Externalism - Gett
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Informal Reduction E.P. Brandon, Ca
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An Anti-Reductionist Argument Based
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An Anti-Reductionist Argument Based
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Did I Do It? -Yeah, You Did! Wittge
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Literature Did I Do It? -Yeah, You
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tween the two approaches. The task
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On Two Recent Defenses of The Simpl
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On Two Recent Defenses of The Simpl
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Queen Victoria’s Dying Thoughts T
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Diagonalization. The Liar Paradox,
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Proof: Given a function ƒ from con
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that I am sure that it is true that
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experiencing something as a red pen
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There can be Causal without Ontolog
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There can be Causal without Ontolog
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objects. But they also leave unansw
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The Knower Paradox and the Quantifi
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The Knower Paradox and the Quantifi
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lent. It also implies that an inven
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The Scapegoat Theory of Causality M
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We may have evolved a specialized c
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easoning have their source in the l
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Wittgenstein on Frazer and Explanat
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genstein 1993, p. 143). In order to
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an adequate syntactic analysis of o
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Wittgenstein meets ÖGS: Wovon man
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Wittgenstein meets ÖGS: Wovon man
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3. Der Elementarsatz wird als Relat
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Literatur Glock, Hans Johann 2006
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Explaining the Brain: Ruthless Redu
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Occam’s Razor in the Theory of Th
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Literature Campbell, Donald T. 1987
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Die Nichtreduzierbarkeit der klassi
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Literatur Die Nichtreduzierbarkeit
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Let T I be the minimal theory of tr
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Does Bradley’s Regress Support No
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(3) Mutatis mutandis, realism has t
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Zeitliche Ontologie und zeitliche R
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Betrachtung ontologischer Fragen, M
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The decisive consequences of this a
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Benacerraf and Bad Company (An Atta
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offer a solution to the bad company
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Literature Benacerraf, Paul 1965
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"PA" by using "PA* ", at least at t
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Hard Naturalism and its Puzzles Ren
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The Mind-Body-Problem and Score-Kee
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mental properties, for instance, or
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kommt es zu einem gravierenden Miss
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Reduction Revisited: The Ontologica
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4. Conclusion Reduction Revisited:
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All in all, we have seen that reduc
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Physicalism Without the A Priori Pa
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Literature Cartwright, Nancy 1999:
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Wittgensteins Projektionsmethode al
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Schlussbemerkungen Wittgensteins Pr
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intentional states requires functio
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Relating Theories. Models and Struc
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Literature Relating Theories. Model
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e invoked in response to the questi
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Do Brains Think? Christopher Humphr
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4. Conclusion So do brains think or
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How Metaphors Alter the World-Pictu
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The Modal Supervenience of the Conc
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Literature van der Auwera, Johan an
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3. The Determination of Form by Syn
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Zwischen Humes Gesetz und „Sollen
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Zwischen Humes Gesetz und „Sollen
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Assessing Humean Supervenience Amir
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determination thesis; it fails as a
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Aus der obigen Definition folgt, da
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Ding-Ontology of Aristotle vs. Sach
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Ding-Ontology of Aristotle vs. Sach
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How do Moral Principles Figure in M
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“Downward Causation”: Emergent,
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“Downward Causation”: Emergent,
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A with distinguished subset Z of te
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A Metaphysically Moderate Version o
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Literature Balashov, Yuri 2002 ''Wh
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“In der Frage liegt ein Fehler”
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Problems with Psychophysical Identi
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identity theory, or as a predecesso
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of the world. It only matters that
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Four Anti-reductionist Dogmas in th
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Four Anti-reductionist Dogmas in th
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notion of time and requires that so
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Some Remarks on Wittgenstein and Ty
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Some Remarks on Wittgenstein and Ty
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concrete particulars can be subject
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phenomenal concept of experiencing
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Metaphorische Bedeutung als virtus
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speaker is then attaching a special
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„Vom Weißdorn und vom Propheten
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„Die Einheit hören“ - Einige
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„Die Einheit hören“ - Einige
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S4) the necessity of arithmetic is
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Getting out from Inside: Why the Cl
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Dispensing with Particulars: Unders
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Literature Dispensing with Particul
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Reichenbach’s Concept of Logical
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Defining Ontological Naturalism Mar
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Literature Jackson, Frank 1986. “
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properties are located. This proces
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‘our conceptual scheme’ “is c
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Properties and Reduction between Me
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Does this mean that metaphysics sho
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do not pick out pain in a system by
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The Writing of Nietzsche and Wittge
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his teachings. He coincides with hi
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sense of a proposition without firs
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Naturalistic Ethics: A Logical Posi
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Literature Kant, Immanuel 2006 Crit
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What we now require is a bridge the
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Species, Variability, and Integrati
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could mention the many sorts of iso
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to work this way. Classic examples
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The Key Problems of KC Matteo Pleba
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have embraced the myth of prose: it
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5. Prior’s Problem As Patrick Bla
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Reductionism in Axiology: the Case
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developing of cancer tissue in huma
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(2) One-way Nagelian bridge princip
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Rethinking the Modal Argument again
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Rethinking the Modal Argument again
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that we are to find the features we
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Atypical Rational Agency Paul Raymo
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Literature Anscombe, G. E. M. 1957
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situation bieten sich keine Kriteri
Page 284 and 285: Two Reductions of ‘rule’ Dana R
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Page 290 and 291: Wittgenstein’s Attitudes Fabien S
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Page 294 and 295: Warum man auf transzendentalphiloso
Page 296 and 297: Making the Mind Higher-Level Elizab
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Page 302 and 303: Mental Causation: A Lesson from Act
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Page 308 and 309: Reduction, Sets, and Properties Ben
Page 310 and 311: Literature Egan, Andy (2004): ‘Se
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Page 314 and 315: The Elimination of Meaning in Compu
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Page 332 and 333: A Division in Mind. The Misconceive
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Page 342 and 343: A somewhat Eliminativist Proposal a
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Page 352 and 353: that he was working on a translatio
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Page 358 and 359: Let us take the example of the hypo
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Page 364 and 365: Are Lamarckian Explanations Fully R
Page 366 and 367: A Note on Tractatus 5.521 Nuno Vent
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Page 372 and 373: Ethik als irreduzibles Supervenienz
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Page 376 and 377: Das ‘schwierige Problem’ des Be
Page 378 and 379: The Supervenience Argument, Levels,
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On the Characterization of Objects
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On the Characterization of Objects
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The Functional Unity of Special Sci
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size, location, temporal characteri
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Transcendental Philosophy and Mind-
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From Topology to Logic. The Neural
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From Topology to Logic. The Neural
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The Calculus of Inductive Construct
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The Four-Color Theorem, Testimony a
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experience. Of course, a detailed a
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Clearly x = y → x = ext y holds,
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Intentional Fundamentalism Petri Yl
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The second dimension to be consider
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The very existence of the special s
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Heil, J. (1999), “Multiple Realiz
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independent of what is the fact, fa
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415
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Publications of the Austrian Ludwig
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