Episode 128: Hilary Putnam on Linguistic Meaning

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

• Episode: Episode 128: Hilary Putnam on Linguistic Meaning
• Website: The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
• Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePartiallyExaminedLife
• Duration: 02:03:03
• Published: 2015-11-30 13:00

On "The Meaning of Meaning" (1975). If meaning is not a matter of having a description in your head, then what is it? Hilary Putnam reformulates Kripke's insight (from #126) in terms of Twin Earths: Earthers with H20 and Twin Earthers with a substance that seems like water but is different have the same mental contents but are referring to different stuff with "water," so that word is speaker-relative in a certain way. With guest Matt Teichman. 

End song: "In the Boatyard" by Mark Lint & the Madison Lint Ensemble (2004, finished now).