List

So, it’s time for the puzzle. First, a quick recap.

1. Ways-Millianism (Part One)
I explained how Millianism responds to Frege Puzzles using ways of believing.

2. Ways-Millianism (Part Two)
I explained how this strategy can be extended (and has already been extended) to respond to a variety of philosophical problems and puzzles.

Now for the puzzle…
The strategy in Part One and Part Two all have the following unifying feature. The diagnosis of the problem involves pointing out that we are confused in some way because we run the argument using two different ways of thinking about one and the same thing. Those different ways are embedded in the same propositional attitude verb. This is how we get confused, says the Millian.

Basically, I’m worried that this strategy if it can be adopted in Part One and Part Two, can be extended to undermine any counterexample to any conceptual analysis in philosophy!

Here’s the idea. The following is the basic structure for any conceptual analysis and counterexample.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Basic Structure for ANY CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS and COUNTEREXAMPLE

Schema for Analysis of Alpha in terms of Beta

X is an alpha iff X is a beta

Counterexample
I tell you a story where it is intuitive that something, call it Bob, is an alpha but not a beta.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Extreme Ways Millian Extension
The Ways Millian extension of the strategy from part one and part two would go like this…

“In your thought experiment you’re thinking about one and the same thing using to different ways or modes of presentation. We can see this more clearly when you flesh out what your real evidence for non-identity is. Your real evidence is…

(A) It is intuitive that Bob is an alpha
(B) It is not intuitive that Bob is a beta

But look, you’re just embedding your uses of ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ inside the propositional attitude verb intuitive-that. There’s your mistake,” says the Extreme Ways-Millian.

The Options
1. Give up on Ways-Millianism.
2. Draw some distinction between permissible and impermissible uses of the strategy.
3. Accept Way-Millianism and the extension of the stragey – i.e., bye-bye conceptual analysis.

My money is on (2), and I think I have a way to draw the line. I’m currently hashing that out, though. I might post it a little later.

If anyone has any thoughts, comments are open.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  Posts

April 3rd, 2014

Ethics and Technology Panel This Week

I’m participated in a panel yesterday Fredonia on Ethics and Technology. The title of my presentation was “Grounding a Moral […]

March 27th, 2014

Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death

This is unreal. Doctors in Pittsburgh will try to save the lives of 10 patients by placing them in a […]

March 26th, 2014

Diversity and Inclusiveness: Amy Ferrer over at newAPPS

The executive director of the American Philosophical Association is doing a series of guest posts this week over at newAPPS […]

March 20th, 2014

Thinking about moral realism may lead to better moral behavior.

This is really interesting. A recent article published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology suggests that being primed to think about […]

March 14th, 2014

APA Now Accepting Nominees for Leadership Positions

The APA now has an online nomination system. There are vacancies on all twenty APA committees. You can access the […]

February 27th, 2014

A Discovery Based Account of Intellectual Property Rights

One of the issues, that’s most interested me so far in the Ethics and Technology class I’m teaching is how […]

February 26th, 2014

How the MPAA inadvertently gave American Artists Leverage Against Hollywood

This is a very interesting read. For the most part it is an over-view of the global subsidy war between nations. Here’s […]

February 25th, 2014

Spritz – New Technology Aims to Boost Reading Speed to 500 words a minute

I just learned about Spritz today. It’s starts out to be pretty mind-blowing. The technology is designed to feed text […]

February 6th, 2014

Gettier Case in The Simpsons

If we assume that Bart (at some point) justifiably believed that the lemon-shaped rock was a lemon, then he had […]

February 4th, 2014

The Case of the Copyright Hoarder

I’m teaching an Ethics and Technology class this semester. I came up with a thought experiment today that I’m going […]