新人报道

swampman

The meaning of"swampman"

"It is this emphasis on the holistic, and externalist, character of knowledge — and so also of content — that is expressed in Davidson's well-known ‘Swampman’ example. In this example (in ‘Knowing One's own Mind’, Davidson 1987: 443–4) we are asked to imagine a situation in which a lightning strike in a swamp reduces Davidson's body to its basic elements, while simultaneously transforming a nearby dead tree into an exact replica of him. Although the resulting ‘Swampman’ behaves exactly like the original author of ‘Radical Interpretation’, Davidson denies that the ‘Swampman’ could properly be said to have thoughts or its words have meaning — and the reason is simply that the Swampman would lack the sort of causal history that is required in order to establish the right connections between itself, others and the world that underpin the attribution of thought and meaning.(SEP- Donad Davidson)"

swampman

"Donald Davidson"