The Possibility of Conceptual Clarity in Philosophy Author(S): Michael A
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The Possibility of Conceptual Clarity in Philosophy Author(s): Michael A. Bishop Source: American Philosophical Quarterly , Jul., 1992, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jul., 1992), pp. 267-277 Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the North American Philosophical Publications Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20014420 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]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms and University of Illinois Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Philosophical Quarterly This content downloaded from 34.195.88.230 on Sat, 12 Sep 2020 22:43:18 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms American Philosophical Quarterly Volume 29, Number 3, July 1992 THE POSSIBILITY OF CONCEPTUAL CLARITY IN PHILOSOPHY Michael A. Bishop A HE attempt to analyze and clarify con? The next stage of counterexample philoso? cepts is a trademark of Western philosophy. phy involves philosophical sharpshooters And this is how it should be. Given the rela? taking aim at the classical account of the tively non-empirical nature of the philosophi? concept by proposing counterexamples. cal endeavor, philosophers must be concerned While the paradigm is probably Gettier's with the state of their primary instruments? (1963) counterexample to (K), counterex? language and the concepts expressed by lan? amples have also been levelled against guage. The aim of this paper is to make sense of each of the classical accounts noted above: a pattern of argumentation typically employed Tyler B?rge against Lewis' account of con? in the effort to clarify philosophically impor? vention (1975), Jaegwon Kim against tant concepts. The upshot will be that only by Lewis' account of causation (1973), Hilary adopting a thoroughgoing naturalism will we Putnam against Goldman's account of have any real chance to achieve the goal of knowledge (1983), Paul Ziff against conceptual clarity in philosophy. Grice's account of meaning (1967), Sylvain Bromberger against Hempel's account of I. COUNTEREXAMPLE PHILOSOPHY explanation (1966), Philip Kitcher against Counterexample philosophy is a distinc? Salmon's account of causation (1989), and tive pattern of argumentation philosophers John Searle against Putnam's account of since Plato have employed when attempting mental states (1980). to hone their conceptual tools. It begins The final stage of counterexample philos? when someone proposes a classical account ophy involves one of three potential re? of a philosophically important concept. A sponses to an apparently successful classical account of a concept offers singly counterexample. One might amend the ac? necessary and jointly sufficient conditions count so it no longer succumbs to the coun? for the application of a term expressing that terexample, at which point philosophical concept. Probably the best known of these is sharpshooters reset their sights on the re? the traditional account of knowledge. vised account. Or one might admit defeat: no amount of tinkering will save the ac? (K) X is knowledge iff X is a justified true belief count. Finally, one might bite the bullet by holding fast to the classical account even The list of philosophers who have advanced though many think the counterexample is classical accounts of concepts would not only successful. J. J. C. Smart's discussion of al? include many of the greatest figures in the his? leged counterexamples to act utilitarianism tory of philosophy, but also many highly re? is a classic case of bullet biting: "The fact garded contemporary philosophers. Consider that [utilitarianism] has consequences just a fraction of these: David Lewis on con? which conflict with some of our particular vention (1969) and on causation (1973), Alvin moral judgements need not be decisive Goldman on knowledge (1967), H.P. Grice on against it.... I am not concerned with what meaning (1957), Carl Hempel on explanation our moral customs and institutions in fact (1948), Wesley Salmon on causation (1984), are... I am concerned with a certain view and Hilary Putnam on mental states (1967). about what they ought to be" (1973, p. 56). 267 This content downloaded from 34.195.88.230 on Sat, 12 Sep 2020 22:43:18 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 268 / AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY Which of these responses is appropriate de? vision and the target term is, by itself, irrele? pends on the philosopher's aim in adducing vant to the acceptability of the revision. But the account. Counterexample philosophy what makes one revision more successful has three potential aims. than another? If there are no rules about (1) Conceptual analysis: A serious and this, if willy-nilly conceptual revision is the venerable psychological hypothesis holds aim, then it seems a worthless and absurd proj? that many concepts are made up of other ect. Assuming the conservative endeavors concepts. For example, the concept bachelor (analysis and explication) are unlikely to suc? might be constructed out of the concepts ceed, it is essential we respond to this challenge available unmarried man. If we adopt this on pain of forfeiting counterexample philoso? psychological hypothesis, one might propose phy as a tool for conceptual clarification. that the success condition on a classical ac? Section IV is a response to this challenge. count is that the concept expressed by the One might argue that these options do not term on one flank of the biconditional be exhaust the potential goals of counterexam? constituted by the concepts expressed by the ple philosophy. Philosophers might set them? terms on the other flank of the biconditional. selves the goal of providing an account of For instance, (K) is a successful instance of metaphysical reality. So (K) succeeds just in conceptual analysis just in case our concept case it tells us what knowledge really is. Will knowledge is made up of the conjunction of the proponent of metaphysical counterex? our concepts justified true belief. ample philosophy offer an account of how (2) Conceptual explication: In order for an we can know when we have found metaphys? instance of conceptual explication to suc? ical reality? If not, then counterexample phi? ceed, the extensions of the target term and losophy is futile since we cannot know when its classical account must be identical with it succeeds. But suppose he does offer such respect to all clear instances and non-in? an account. If part of the test for determining stances of the target term.1 On this view, (K) whether we have found metaphysical reality is a successful explication just in case any? involves checking whether the extension of the thing that is a clear case of knowledge is also target term has been preserved, at least in the a clear case of justified true belief and anything clear cases, then metaphysical counterexam? that is a clear non-instance of knowledge is also ple philosophy will fall victim to the argument a clear non-instance of justified true belief. against conceptual explication in section III. If How our concepts are psychologically repre? sented is irrelevant to this endeavor. metaphysical counterexample philosophy does not involve preserving the extension of Sections II and III of this paper will offer the target term, then it faces the challenge empirical reasons why conceptual analysis faced by conceptual revision discussed above and explication cannot succeed. If this is and in section IV. So for the purposes of this right, how are we to understand the attempt paper, metaphysical counterexample philoso? by some very distinguished philosophers to phy can be seen as either futile, an instance of give classical accounts of philosophically im? explication, or an instance of revision. portant terms? Is it merely a mistake of a bygone era? Perhaps. But before we dispose II. The FUTILITY OF of such a significant piece of philosophical Conceptual Analysis heritage, we should consider the third poten? tial aim of counterexample philosophy. Classical conceptual analysis aims to de? (3) Conceptual revision: So far we have scribe the structure of a philosophically im? considered conservative aims of counterex? portant concept in terms of singly necessary ample philosophy?they set out to preserve and jointly sufficient conditions. This en? something important about the target term. deavor is doomed because most concepts are Conceptual revision does not set the preser? not structured classically. This is not news to vation of the target term's intension or ex? philosophers. Since Wittgenstein (1953), tension as a condition for success. Finding a philosophers have argued that there are no difference between the extensions of the re classical conditions for the application of our This content downloaded from 34.195.88.230 on Sat, 12 Sep 2020 22:43:18 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms conceptual clarity in philosophy / 269 terms. But even ifvte assume that philosoph? philosophy is not the method that ought to ically important concepts are represented be employed in finding those features. classically, it does not follow that counterex? Nicholas Rescher (1973, 1985) has ad? ample philosophy as currently practiced is a vanced another argument to the conclusion reasonable method to use to discover the that even if concepts are classically struc? structure of our concepts. Questions about tured, conceptual analysis as practiced can? the actual structure of our concepts are in not succeed. Philosophically pivotal principle as empirical as questions about the concepts, like most of our concepts, are "at? actual structure of iron.