cornell realism

Question 1

natural term features:

Answer 1

• Natural terms are able to be knowable a posteriori.
• They are able to be observed and tested.
• They are causally effacacious

Question 2

terminological reduction meaning

Answer 2

expressing the meaning of one set of terms in terms of another set. It involves the clarification or analysis of concepts ie the correct definition

Question 3

ontological reduction meaning

Answer 3

explaining properties or sets of things to the properties or sets of other things
If an action has the property of making us happy, it has the property of goodness

Question 4

non-reductionist

Answer 4

a property may exist but that property cannot be understood in terms of any other property

Question 5

what is the cornell realist stance on this?

Answer 5

non-reductionists through and through - both term and onto
- good is an irreducible property
- it is a sui generis property
- there are empirical reasons the property exists because they are naturalists but they cannot be reduced

Question 6

what is the strategy cornell realists use?

Answer 6

they look at how scientific facts are understood and discovered and then apply it to the moral sphere

Question 7

the theory of semantics cornell realists employ

Answer 7

causal regulation theory

Question 8

what is causal regulation semantics

Answer 8

• Formal – “x is water iff x has the property that causally regulates our perception of the properties in the description of water”
• .the correct use of a term is regulated by the natural property that causes the things we percieve about it
  -H2O - the natural thing - regulates our successful use of the term “water” through these discernable properties ie colour, taste, falls from sky etc

Question 9

how is causal regulation semantics different to descriptivist understandings

Answer 9

• Descriptivism - water means the description “odourless, colourless, etc” and thats it - the stereotype/ description of water fixes the term “water”
• causal regulation semantics - water is the name for the molecular structure we pick out in the world that has certain stereotypical properties that are causally regulated by its molecular structure

-This differs from descriptive theories of meaning because it suggests that meaning isn’t just about matching descriptions or beliefs we associate with terms, but rather about what natural properties are actually causally regulating our successful use of those terms in practice. Even if early humans had very different beliefs about water than we do, they were still referring to H2O because that’s what was causally regulating their use of the term.

Question 10

what other types of language might causal regulation semantics cover

Answer 10

• functional terms - knives, tools,
• ## theoretical terms - electrons, quarks, gravity

Question 11

does functional language serve as a weakness of the theory or a strength showing its range

Answer 11

• it increases its utility as a theory - we dont need more explanations of the natural stuff - we have that from science but its interesting to include other groups and bridge the gap between natural language and theoretical/functional because it strengthens the gap between science and philosophy
• the theoretical language thats used in science is likened to the moral language used in philosophy - we can measure the effects of it and what might causally regulate it.
  terms refer to what regulates their successful use, whether that’s through intrinsic structure or functional role.

Question 12

descriptivism meaning

Answer 12

By using the description of the term, we can understand what the term is referring to - the extension of the term - we understand the term “apple” refers to a crunchy fruit that is green or red and high in vitamins.

Question 13

Twin Earth thought experiment

Answer 13

There is an earth, and a twin earth. It looks identical to Earth. The one difference is that on twin earth, the thing we pick out to be water is not the molecular structure of H2O, it is XYZ. Oscar goes to Twin earth, and says ‘oh that water is lovely’ - is it referring to the same thing?

Question 14

what is the point of the TEE?

Answer 14

Twin earth experiment -
- the point is to diffuse the idea that if two things have the same description, they must also have the same meaning.
- This idea works for functional things - knives are just things with a sharp edge; doesn’t matter about material, just has a role
- does not work for the TEE water or other natural kind terms
- Our intuitions suggest that meaning isnt to do w description, its to do with the property a name picks out

Question 15

what do putnam and kripke believe?

(they are cornell realists)

Answer 15

• oscar and toscar are mistaken to think its the same thing
• picking out the property H20 on earth, XYZ on Twin earth
• when we talk about water we’re on about the property H20
• not in genuine disagreement because it is not the same thing

Question 16

how would descriptivists respond to TEE?

Answer 16

Descriptivists would argue that H20 is water and XYZ is water therefore H20 = XYZ
oscar and toscar are not mistaken and are referring to the same thing on earth and twin earth

Question 17

what are natural terms

Answer 17

names that naturally latch onto the world and we come to associate them with one another.
Water associated with the property that causally regulates the aspect of the term - odorless, colourless etc

Question 18

what are moral terms?

Answer 18

moral terms are like natural terms - they also pick out properties that causally regulate other things

good = property in the world with causal profile that causes morality

Question 19

how do cornell realists define good?

Answer 19

**For cornell realists, we accept the causal regulation account, so we can claim that ‘good’ picks out a property - it does have meaning - but we cant define it. - certain terms get their meaning because the property causes the usage of the term
**

Question 20

does this non-reduction cause a lack of meaning?

how much can we really get from good = the property causing goodness?

Answer 20

No, the meaning comes from picking out a property rather than trying to define it - it avoids the outrunning argument
- Definition is neither necessary nor sufficient for meaning - its more important to find the property that it actually refers to rather than some kind of definition

Question 21

why does the twin earth experiment support the cornell realist position?

Answer 21

• TEE shows that even if two terms are almost identical, if the main causal property is different it’s a different meaning therefore you cant use the same term
  
  • Plays into intuition of even if its technically the same definition its different because of the different property

Question 22

Moral twin earth explanation

Answer 22

• cornell realism says moral terms are like natural terms
• someone countered it by saying what about Moral Twin Earth??
• issue because it does seem to cause an issue for cornell realists
• MTE is identical to ME, but only difference is good picks out consequentialist ethics, whereas on MTE Its deontological ethics

Question 23

MTE scenario - original

Answer 23

Oscar and Toscar both see a child drowning, and a woman saving it’s life.
- both agree it is good
- oscar thinks its good because the consequence is good
- toscar thinks its good because it works as a universalisable maxim

Question 24

what is the point of MTE?

Answer 24

Why was the moral twin earth introduced - challenging the intuition that both responses would be the same - cornell realism wants to use it so responses ask them to use it with morality - it fails because we do not have the same intuitions

Question 25

do moral terms behave like natural terms or like functional terms?

Answer 25

• Cornell realists think natural terms
• I think functional language - i think morality is a function of society and it does not pick out something specific in the world
• it would explain why it appears in each society but in different forms - like traditional whaling knives in inuit cultures - they may not look like knives but they have the same function

Question 26

other functional terms other than knives

Answer 26

• ## container - holds and transports objects/substances - could be a glass vial or an ikea storage box - regardless of material, it has a role in society