Linguist: You philosophers say

Answer choices

1. A

   Unrelated to Goal6% picked this

   Two things can have a few minor differences and still

   This isn't speaking to our objection that the philosophers are analyzing whether or not two claims are identical, whereas we only said they were identical in meaning, not in all attributes. We're not trying to convince the philosopher that these two sentences are in fact identical; we're just trying to reiterate our original claim (untouched by his rebuttal) that these two sentences are in fact identical in meaning.

   6%
2. B

   Upside Down Ingredients9% picked this

   Two sentences can be identical physically, and yet, depending on the context in which they are uttered, not

   This has a great structure, but the ingredients are inverted from what they should be. We linguists are saying, "Two sentences can be non-identical physically, and yet still be identical in meaning."

   9%
3. C

   True vs. Identical in Meaning7% picked this

   It is necessarily true that Joan is Ivan's sibling if Ivan

   The philosophers were never debating whether claim 1 logically entails claim 2. That is a separate issue. The claim that "all lions are hairy" logically entails that "some lions are hairy", but that doesn't mean that they are physically identical or identical in meaning. So convincing the philosophers that one claim proves the other is not actually doing our intended job, which is convincing them that these two claims are identical in meaning.

   7%
4. D

   Correct78% picked this

   The issue is not whether the two sentences are completely identical, but whether they mean

   Why this is right

   This speaks to our objection that the philosophers took the conversation somewhere else. We only commented on whether two claims were identical in meaning, i.e. whether they mean the exact same thing. We never said they were the exact same sentence. We said the two sentences have the exact same meaning.

   Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   78%
5. E

   Never Correct0% picked this

   A linguist has more experience with language than a philosopher, and so is in a better position

   Haha, this is a funny response, but there's no such thing as "logically countering them" by saying "you're wrong, because I'm the boss, and I said so". We have to engage with the philosopher's ideas, not disqualify them from speaking their ideas.

   0%