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Brains in a Vat: Different Perspectives Author(S): Yuval Steinitz Reviewed Work(S): Source: the Philosophical Quarterly, Vol Brains in a Vat: Different Perspectives Author(s): Yuval Steinitz Reviewed work(s): Source: The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 175 (Apr., 1994), pp. 213-222 Published by: Wiley-Blackwell for The Philosophical Quarterly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2219742 . Accessed: 19/08/2012 03:29 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley-Blackwell and The Philosophical Quarterly are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Philosophical Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org ON MCDOWELL ON THE CONTENT OF PERCEPTUAL EXPERIENCE 213 in givingan expositionof one of thehorns of thedilemma. One hornof thedilemma is thatif we take consciousnessto be inseparablefrom the norm-governednotion of self-consciousnessand fromreflective and self-criticalattitudes towards oneself, then it does seem hard to accept thatDennett's framework, in whichconscious contents are a selectionof thecontents that go to and frobetween subsystems, will capture all of thephenomena; but by the same tokena frog'svisual experience will not countas contentfuland conscious,as McDowell claimsit does. But,on the otherhorn, if we shrinkthe phenomenonof consciousnessto exclude self-consciousnessand thereby includethe experienceof unself-consciouscreatures such as frogsas conscious,then it seemsto me thedual strategyI adopted - of(l) generalizingDennett's idea ofaccess relations,and (2) defusingMcDowell's epistemologicalalarms which motivatehis criticismof Dennett - providesa quiteadequate defence of Dennett against McDowell. ColumbiaUniversit BRAINS IN A VAT: DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES BY YUVAL STEINITZ In his'Brains in a Vat" Putnamargues with great panache against ontological, external- worldscepticism. Ultimately, however, his argumentsare uncompelling.In fact,they seem disingenuousin places. This paper has two parts. In the firstI argue that even if Putnam's linguistic argumentsare enoughto convincea modernlinguistic sceptic (like Putnam himself), theyare certainlyinsufficient to win over an old-school'ontological sceptic' - that is, a scepticwho sees ontologyas a fieldof philosophymore fundamentalthan the theoryof reference(like Descartes at the outsetof his Meditations).As I shall explain, Putnam'sreliance on causal semanticsto achieve his anti-scepticalresult would beg the centralquestion against certain kinds of sceptics.In the secondpart I argue that Putnam's argumentsare not sufficientto win over his own camp of linguistic philosophers,not even when his causal semanticsis takenfor granted. His arguments, ifvalid, might undercut the possibility of what I shall call a comprehensivesceptical scenario,but theyhave littleto say about the possibilityof what I shall call partial scepticalscenarios. Beforepresenting my criticism,let me brieflysummarize Putnam's 'linguistic' argumentagainst external-world scepticism. Putnam argues that sceptical propositions like'I am a brainin a vat' (henceforthBIV), thatis, a brainsubjected to a sophisticated computerwhich performs comprehensive simulation of reality,are self-refuting. H. Putnam, Reason,Truth and History(Cambridge UP, 1981), pp. 1-21; see also the related discussion pp. 49-74. All page referencesare to this book. ? The Editorsof ThePhilosophical Quarterly, 1994. 214 YUVAL STEINITZ His argumentis as follows:in orderfor this proposition to acquire its presumed realisticmeaning, the terms 'brain' and 'vat' mustrefer to realbrainsand vats.However, accordingto causal semantics,a word can referto an object only if that object is somehow causallyconnected with the utteranceor thoughtof the word. Thus in order forthe word 'vat' to referto an actual vat, and not to referto a 'vat in the image' (p. 15), or be a mere clusterof random,meaningless markings, there must be some causal connectionbetween the perceptionof some actual vat and the fact thatthe word 'vat' was written,said or conceived. Returningnow to the BIV proposition:if the speakeris a genuineBIV, thenit is impossiblethat he should ever have observedthe vat he is in, or any vat, brain or computerwhatsoever. Thus the word 'vat' in his usage does not referto real vats, but only to 'vats in the image', and the entireproposition fails to refer.If, on the other hand, the speakeris not a BIV, then his propositionhas reference,but is obviouslyfalse. Hence the proposition'I am a BIV' eitherfails to referor is false. But if it failsto referto the vat containingthe brain, i.e., if it refersto mental images ratherthan to real objects,then it is also false (p. 15). For what it would (actually)tell the assumedBIV is thathe is a BIV in theimage, while what he would (actually)be is a BIV in reality.So it is necessarilyfalse. Taken together,the two partsof thispaper place Putnamin a dilemma.On the one hand,as thesceptical scenario (e.g., the BIV story)is renderedmore comprehensive, it becomes increasinglynecessary, from the sceptic'sperspective, to discard the realistic,causal theoryof referenceupon whichPutnam's anti-sceptical argument is based. On the otherhand, as the scepticalscenario is renderedmore partial, indirect causal connectionswith external reality, which are sufficientfor realistic reference, become increasinglyplausible. I. THE ONTOLOGIST'S PERSPECTIVE The BIV hypothesisis an updated versionof the scepticalarguments presented in Descartes' firstMeditation, that the entireworld might be only a self-madefigment of his imagination,or rathera fictiongenerated by an evil genius.The firstline of defencefor the scepticshould be to stressthe disjunctivenature of thisclaim: I cannotknow whether (a) I am a bodilyperson who perceivesindependent real- ity,or (b) everythingis onlya dreamin my mind. Adaptingthis formulation to the BIV hypothesis,the scepticaldisjunction can be formulatedthus: I cannotknow whether (a) I am a bodilyperson who perceivesindependent real- ity,or (b) I am a BIV. An unprejudicedconsideration, the scepticwill argue,will find the two disjunctsto be equallyplausible. There can be no reasonfor preferring one overthe other,since any possibleexperience would be compatiblewith both. Does thisemphasis on the disjunctivenature of scepticismpose a new challenge fromPutnam's perspective?At firstglance it seems not. Putnam could elegantly ? The Editorsof ThePhilosophical Quarterly, 1994. BRAINS IN A VAT 215 tacklethe above disjunctionmuch as he respondedto the BIV propositionalone: he mightargue that,for a BIV, the disjunction'I am a bodilyperson or a BIV' fails to acquireits assumed reference and meaning- because,for a BIV, theterms 'body', 'brain', 'computer'and 'vat' failto refer.It followsthat if the scepticaldisjunction is meaningfulin the presupposedcommon sense, i.e., if it acquires its assumed referenceto a real body, brain,computer and vat, ratherthan referringto purely mentalentities, then disjunct (a) mustbe true. But here,I contend,we can see how froman old-styleontologist's perspective, e.g., fromthe perspectiveof a Cartesianfor whom ontologyis the most fundamental philosophicalfield, Putnam's argument indeed begs thequestion. Being a philosopher of languageat heart,Putnam decides the questionof the theoryof referencebefore decidingmajor ontologicalissues, such as the existenceof an external,perceivable world.As Casati and Dokic2briefly remarked, Putnam presupposes a 'meta-language' whichis inappropriatefora real BIV, and onlythen addresses the scepticaldisjunction. It turnsout thathis apparentrefutation of the BIV propositionsrests upon the prior assumptionthat the speakeris, afterall, a bodilyperson who has a directperceptual contactwith reality, or thathe at leasttacitly believes himself to be such a person,or, alternatively,that he at least tacitlybelieves most members of his societyto be such persons.3For it is onlyby relyingon such realisticpresuppositions (or on some internal realisticpresuppositions, as argued by Dell' Utri4),that the assumedcausal theoryof referencebecomes acceptable. And suchrealistic premises do indeedbeg thequestion. Of coursePutnam might respond that, from his linguistic perspective, this 'begging of the question'is no liabilityat all, but rathera signof thevalidity of his argument. For,as Geach remarks,5itis themark of a validdeductive argument that its conclusion is impliedby its premises. But if Putnam's argument is intendedto convincea sceptical ontologist,he should recognizethat the above 'question-begging'will, for such a sceptic,entirely undercut the forceof his arguments.For the ontologistmaintains, as I shall soon explain in greaterdetail, that choosing a theoryof referenceis conditionedby one's chosen ontology,and not viceversa. Consider,for example, the above scepticaldisjunction. The Cartesianapproach sees thisdoubt about the natureof man, whichmay be compressedinto the well- knownconundrum 'What am I?', as a key issue of philosophy.I shall now argue thatthis fundamental scepticism, which Putnam claims to have renderedimpossible, 2 R. Casati andJ. Dokic, 'Brains in a Vat, Language and Meta-Language', Analysis51 (1991), pp. 91-3. 3 On the social background of Putnam's linguisticargument see Massimo Dell' Utri, 'Choosing Conceptions
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