Questions tagged [externalism]

Putnam's original twin earth experiment shows that the meaning of "water" is determined by external factors. This is an epistemic fact about knowledge and meaning: What we really mean by using many of our words and sentences is not fully known to…

If two names, "N1" and "N2", are introduced into the language for exactly the same purpose, but are made known to a speaker, S, in different circumstances, then it's possible for the sentences "S believes that N1 = N1" and "S believes that N1 = N2"…

I tried to read and understand Frege's "The Thought" and came away with this question. Frege argues mathematical theorems are thoughts which occupy a third realm independent from the physical or mental realms. Ideas are part of the mental realm, but…