This is a past event
Wednesday Feb 10th, 3-4.30pm.
Mahrad Almotahari (Edinburgh) and Aidan Gray (Illinois)
‘Coordination, De Se Thought, and Russellian Exceptionalism’
Abstract: Russellians, Relationists, and Fregeans disagree about the nature of propositional-attitude content and the role of coordination and de se thought in the explanation of rational behavior. We articulate a framework about the form such explanations should take and then use this framework to identify more subtle versions of each doctrine. Through a series of interrelated arguments, we construct a case for an under-appreciated form of Russellianism about attitude content. This view carves content no more finely than its referential features allow; it treats coordination as a matter of normal functional implementation; and it clears the way for a novel argument in support of de se skepticism. A no-less-central aim of the paper is to demonstrate that being more explicit about the broader framework in which these debates take place reveals unexplored possibilities.
For information, contact Federico Luzzi: f.luzzi@abdn.ac.uk