Single Idea 6175

[catalogued under 18. Thought / C. Content / 6. Broad Content]

Full Idea

Davidson observes that the inference from a thought being identified by a relation to something outside the head does not entail that the thought is not wholly in the head, just as sunburn is identified by external factors, but is still in the skin.

Gist of Idea

External identification doesn't mean external location, as with sunburn

Source

report of Donald Davidson (Knowing One's Own Mind [1987]) by Mark Rowlands - Externalism Ch.8

Book Reference

Rowlands,Mark: 'Externalism' [Acumen 2003], p.144


A Reaction

Rowlands (an externalist) agrees, and this strikes me as correct, and it needs to be one of the fixed points in any assessment of externalism.