Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Idealism: a critical survey', 'On Note L to Bayle's 'Rorarius'' and 'Conceptual truth and metaphysical necessity'

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3 ideas

19. Language / B. Reference / 3. Direct Reference / b. Causal reference
One view says the causal story is built into the description that is the name's content [Stalnaker]
     Full Idea: In 'causal descriptivism' the causal story is built into the description that is the content of the name (and also incorporates a rigidifying operator to ensure that the descriptions that names abbreviate have wide scope).
     From: Robert C. Stalnaker (Conceptual truth and metaphysical necessity [2003], 5)
     A reaction: Not very controversial, I would say, since virtually every fact about the world has a 'causal story' built into it. Must we insist on rigidity in order to have wide scope?
19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 10. Two-Dimensional Semantics
Two-D says that a posteriori is primary and contingent, and the necessity is the secondary intension [Stalnaker]
     Full Idea: Two-dimensionalism says the necessity of a statement is constituted by the fact that the secondary intensions is a necessary proposition, and their a posteriori character is constituted by the fact that the associated primary intension is contingent.
     From: Robert C. Stalnaker (Conceptual truth and metaphysical necessity [2003], 2)
     A reaction: This view is found in Sidelle 1989, and then formalised by Jackson and Chalmers. I like metaphysical necessity, but I have some sympathy with the approach. The question must always be 'where does this necessity derive from'?
In one view, the secondary intension is metasemantic, about how the thinker relates to the content [Stalnaker]
     Full Idea: On the metasemantic interpretation of the two-dimensional framework, the second dimension is used to represent the metasemantic facts about the relation between a thinker or speaker and the contents of her thoughts or utterances.
     From: Robert C. Stalnaker (Conceptual truth and metaphysical necessity [2003], 4)
     A reaction: I'm struggling to think what facts there might be about the relation between myself and the contents of my thoughts. I'm more or less constituted by my thoughts.