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Single Idea 12149

[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / b. Elements of beliefs ]

Full Idea

The essential indexical is a problem for the view that belief is a relation between subjects and propositions conceived as bearers of truth and falsity.

Clarification

'Indexicals' are words like 'I' and 'now', where meaning partly depends on context

Gist of Idea

Indexicals are a problem for beliefs being just subject-proposition relations

Source

John Perry (The Problem of the Essential Indexical [1979], 'Intro')

Book Ref

'Self-Knowledge', ed/tr. Cassam,Quassim [OUP 1994], p.167

A Reaction

My immediate reaction would be that it depends on how you conceive of 'propositions'. If they are objective, you have a problem. I take them to be subjective events in brains, and the indexical meaning to be evident within the proposition.

The 22 ideas from John Perry

4885 Identity is a very weak relation, which doesn't require interdefinability, or shared properties [Perry]
4884 Brain states must be in my head, and yet the pain seems to be in my hand [Perry]
4887 We try to cause other things to occur by causing mental events to occur [Perry]
4888 It seems plausible that many animals have experiences without knowing about them [Perry]
4889 Although we may classify ideas by content, we individuate them differently, as their content can change [Perry]
4890 A sharp analytic/synthetic line can rarely be drawn, but some concepts are central to thought [Perry]
4891 If epiphenomenalism just says mental events are effects but not causes, it is consistent with physicalism [Perry]
4892 If physicalists stick with identity (not supervenience), Martian pain will not be like ours [Perry]
4899 Possible worlds thinking has clarified the logic of modality, but is problematic in epistemology [Perry]
4898 Possible worlds are indices for a language, or concrete realities, or abstract possibilities [Perry]
4896 The intension of an expression is a function from possible worlds to an appropriate extension [Perry]
4900 Prior to Kripke, the mind-brain identity theory usually claimed that the identity was contingent [Perry]
4901 Truth has to be correspondence to facts, and a match between relations of ideas and relations in the world [Perry]
4897 A proposition is a set of possible worlds for which its intension delivers truth [Perry]
15203 Tense is essential for thought and action [Perry, by Le Poidevin]
15204 Actual tensed sentences cannot be tenseless, because they can cite their own context [Perry, by Le Poidevin]
12151 If we replace 'I' in sentences about me, they are different beliefs and explanations of behaviour [Perry]
12149 Indexicals are a problem for beliefs being just subject-proposition relations [Perry]
18412 Indexicals individuate certain belief states, helping in explanation and prediction [Perry]
12150 Indexicals reveal big problems with the traditional idea of a proposition [Perry]
16391 Indexical thoughts are about themselves, and ascribe properties to themselves [Perry, by Recanati]
12155 Statements of 'relative identity' are really statements of resemblance [Perry]