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class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Semantic externalism</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. 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src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Semantic_externalism" title="Special:EditPage/Semantic externalism">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22Semantic+externalism%22">"Semantic externalism"</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22Semantic+externalism%22+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Semantic+externalism%22&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22Semantic+externalism%22+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Semantic+externalism%22">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22Semantic+externalism%22&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">March 2016</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In the <a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_language" title="Philosophy of language">philosophy of language</a>, <b>semantic externalism</b> (the opposite of <b>semantic internalism</b>) is the view that the <a href="/wiki/Meaning_(philosophy)" title="Meaning (philosophy)">meaning</a> of a term is determined, in whole or in part, by factors external to the speaker. According to an externalist position, one can claim without contradiction that two speakers could be in exactly the same brain state at the time of an utterance, and yet mean different things by that utterance -- that is, at the least, that their terms could pick out different referents. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Overview">Overview</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Semantic_externalism&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Overview"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The philosopher <a href="/wiki/Hilary_Putnam" title="Hilary Putnam">Hilary Putnam</a> (1975/1985) proposed this position and summarized it with the statement "meanings just ain't in the head!" </p><p>Although he did not use the term "externalism" at the time, Putnam is thought to have pioneered semantic externalism in his 1975 paper "The Meaning of 'Meaning<span style="padding-right:.15em;">'</span>". His <a href="/wiki/Twin_Earth_thought_experiment" title="Twin Earth thought experiment">Twin Earth thought experiment</a>, from the aforementioned paper, is widely cited to illustrate his argument for externalism to this day. Alongside Putnam, credit also goes to <a href="/wiki/Saul_Kripke" title="Saul Kripke">Saul Kripke</a> and <a href="/wiki/Tyler_Burge" title="Tyler Burge">Tyler Burge</a>, both of whom attacked internalism for independent reasons, providing a foundation on which Putnam's attacks rested. </p><p>Externalism is generally thought to be a necessary consequence of any <a href="/wiki/Causal_theory_of_reference" title="Causal theory of reference">causal theory of reference</a>; since the causal history of a term is not internal, the involvement of that history in determining the term's referent is enough to satisfy the externalist thesis. However, Putnam and many subsequent externalists have maintained that not only reference, but sense as well is determined, at least in part, by external factors (see <a href="/wiki/Sense_and_reference" title="Sense and reference">sense and reference</a>). </p><p>While it is common to shorten "semantic externalism" to "externalism" within the context of the debate, one must be careful in doing so, as there are several distinct debates in philosophy that employ the terms <a href="/wiki/Internalism_and_externalism" title="Internalism and externalism">"externalism" and "internalism"</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Arguments_for_externalism">Arguments for externalism</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Semantic_externalism&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Arguments for externalism"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Putnam presented a variety of arguments for the externalist position, the most famous being those that concerned <a href="/wiki/Twin_Earth_thought_experiment" title="Twin Earth thought experiment">Twin Earth</a>. Subsequent philosophers have produced other, related thought experiments, most notably <a href="/wiki/Donald_Davidson_(philosopher)" title="Donald Davidson (philosopher)">Donald Davidson</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Swamp_man" class="mw-redirect" title="Swamp man">swamp man</a> experiment. However, there have been numerous arguments for externalism that do not involve science-fiction scenarios. </p><p>Putnam pointed out, for instance, that he has no knowledge that could distinguish elm trees from beech trees. He has precisely the same concept of one as of the other: "a deciduous tree growing in North America". Yet when Putnam makes a statement containing the word "elm", we take him to be referring specifically to elms. If he makes a claim about a property of elm trees, it will be considered true or false, depending upon whether that property applies to those trees which are in fact elms. There is nothing "in the head" that could fix his reference thus; rather, he concluded, his linguistic community, containing some speakers who <i>did</i> know the difference between the two trees, ensured that when he said "elm", he referred to elms. Putnam refers to this feature of language as "the division of linguistic labor". </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Semantic_externalism&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ideational_theory_of_meaning" class="mw-redirect" title="Ideational theory of meaning">Ideational theory of meaning</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Internalism_and_externalism#As_a_response_to_skepticism" title="Internalism and externalism">Semantic externalism as a response to skepticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reference_theory_of_meaning" class="mw-redirect" title="Reference theory of meaning">Reference theory of meaning</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Swampman" class="mw-redirect" title="Swampman">Swampman</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Semantic_externalism&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Putnam, H. (1975/1985). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/185225">"The Meaning of 'Meaning'"</a>. In <i>Philosophical Papers, Vol. 2: Mind, Language and Reality</i>. Cambridge University Press.</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist 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class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Philosophical_skepticism" title="Philosophical skepticism">Philosophical</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Radical_skepticism" title="Radical skepticism">Radical</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Local_skepticism" title="Local skepticism">Local</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Moral_skepticism" title="Moral skepticism">Moral</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scientific_skepticism" title="Scientific skepticism">Scientific</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Religious_skepticism" title="Religious skepticism">Religious</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Skeptical philosophies</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Academic_Skepticism" class="mw-redirect" title="Academic Skepticism">Academic Skepticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aj%C3%B1ana" title="Ajñana">Ajñana</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cartesian_doubt" title="Cartesian doubt">Cartesian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Charvaka" title="Charvaka">Charvaka</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Humeanism" title="Humeanism">Humeanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pyrrhonism" title="Pyrrhonism">Pyrrhonism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Solipsism" title="Solipsism">Solipsism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Skeptical philosophers</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Pyrrho" title="Pyrrho">Pyrrho</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Timon_of_Phlius" title="Timon of Phlius">Timon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arcesilaus" title="Arcesilaus">Arcesilaus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lacydes_of_Cyrene" title="Lacydes of Cyrene">Lacydes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Carneades" title="Carneades">Carneades</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Clitomachus_(philosopher)" title="Clitomachus (philosopher)">Clitomachus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philo_of_Larissa" title="Philo of Larissa">Philo of Larissa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cicero" title="Cicero">Cicero</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aenesidemus" title="Aenesidemus">Aenesidemus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Agrippa_the_Skeptic" title="Agrippa the Skeptic">Agrippa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sextus_Empiricus" title="Sextus Empiricus">Sextus Empiricus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michel_De_Montaigne" class="mw-redirect" title="Michel De Montaigne">Montaigne</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes" title="René Descartes">René Descartes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/David_Hume" title="David Hume">David Hume</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Skeptical scenarios</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Acatalepsy" title="Acatalepsy">Acatalepsy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat" title="Brain in a vat">Brain in a vat</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dream_argument" title="Dream argument">Dream argument</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Evil_demon" title="Evil demon">Evil genius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Five-minute_hypothesis" class="mw-redirect" title="Five-minute hypothesis">Five-minute hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/M%C3%BCnchhausen_trilemma" title="Münchhausen trilemma">Münchhausen trilemma</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Problem_of_the_criterion" title="Problem of the criterion">Problem of the criterion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Problem_of_induction" title="Problem of induction">Problem of induction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis" title="Simulation hypothesis">Simulation hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wax_argument" title="Wax argument">Wax argument</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Responses</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Here_is_one_hand" title="Here is one hand">Here is one hand</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Semantic externalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reliabilism" title="Reliabilism">Process reliabilism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Epistemic_closure" title="Epistemic closure">Epistemic closure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Contextualism" title="Contextualism">Contextualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Relativism" title="Relativism">Relativism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Lists_about_skepticism" class="mw-redirect" title="Lists about skepticism">Lists</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_books_about_skepticism" title="List of books about skepticism">List of books about skepticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_scientific_skeptics" title="List of scientific skeptics">List of scientific skeptics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_skeptical_conferences" title="List of skeptical conferences">List of skeptical conferences</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_skeptical_magazines" title="List of skeptical magazines">List of skeptical magazines</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_skeptical_organizations" title="List of skeptical organizations">List of skeptical organizations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_skeptical_podcasts" title="List of skeptical podcasts">List of skeptical podcasts</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?useformat=desktop&type=1x1&usesul3=0" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> 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