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Full Idea
Conceivability is no proof of possibility.
Gist of Idea
Conceivability is no proof of possibility
Source
Hilary Putnam (Meaning and Reference [1973], p.159)
Book Ref
'Meaning and Reference', ed/tr. Moore,A.W. [OUP 1993], p.159
A Reaction
This strikes me as a really basic truth which all novice philosophers should digest. It led many philosophers, especially rationalists, into all sorts of ill-founded claims about what is possible or necessary. Zombies, for instance…
| 9168 | I can't distinguish elm trees, but I mean by 'elm' the same set of trees as everybody else [Putnam] |
| 5817 | Language is more like a cooperative steamship than an individual hammer [Putnam] |
| 5818 | If water is H2O in the actual world, there is no possible world where it isn't H2O [Putnam] |
| 5819 | Conceivability is no proof of possibility [Putnam] |
| 9169 | A statement can be metaphysically necessary and epistemologically contingent [Putnam] |
| 5820 | 'Water' has an unnoticed indexical component, referring to stuff around here [Putnam] |
| 9170 | We need to recognise the contribution of society and of the world in determining reference [Putnam] |