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THE TWO‐DIMENSIONALIST REDUCTIO
Author(s) -
HOWELL ROBERT J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pacific philosophical quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.914
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1468-0114
pISSN - 0279-0750
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0114.2008.00325.x
Subject(s) - metaphysics , reductio ad absurdum , philosophy , epistemology , interpretation (philosophy) , materialism , semantics (computer science) , modal , ontology , philosophy of language , linguistics , computer science , chemistry , polymer chemistry , programming language
In recent years two‐dimensional semantics has become one of the most serious alternatives to Millianism for the proper interpretation of modal discourse. It has origins in the works of a diverse group of philosophers, and it has proven popular as an interpretation of both language and thought. It has probably received most of its attention, however, because of its use by David Chalmers in his arguments against materialism. It is this more metaphysical application of two‐dimensionalism that is the concern in this paper. For though there is probably something salvageable from two‐dimensionalism as a way to explain the content of thought, as a metaphysical tool it should be abandoned. In this paper I aim to establish this point by reductio : if ‘metaphysical’ two‐dimensionalism is assumed, it can be shown to be false.