Philosophy Dictionary of Arguments

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Twin earth: is an expression from a thought experiment by H. Putnam (H. Putnam, The meaning of ‘meaning’, In Philosophical Papers, Vol. 2 Mind, Language and Reality, Cambridge, 1985). It is assumed that there is a second earth, which resembles our own in every detail, except for the composition of the substance water. However, the twin earth-water has phenomenologically the same properties as our water and is also called water there. The example should show that we cannot determine the reference of expressions independently of the environment. See also reference, externalism, internalism, anti-individualism.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Michael Esfeld on Twin Earth - Dictionary of Arguments

I 153ff
Twin Earth/Esfeld: The equalityof meanings does not depend on use.
>Use theory
, >Use, >Equality, >Meaning, >Reference.
I 156ff
Twin Earth/Putnam: the community may fix that water is supposed to be "whatever has this micro structure or behavior" (even prior to knowledge) > "attributive".
>Natural kind/Putnam, >Attributive/referential.

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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

Es I
M. Esfeld
Holismus Frankfurt/M 2002


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Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-28
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