The Descriptive Theory of Names

Frank Jackson is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. He is best known for the knowledge argument and Mary’s Room—its accompanying thought experiment—but has published widely in the philosophy of mind, epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language. Frank and Robinson discuss conceptual analysis—or the philosophical technique of examining the meaning, content, or definition of a concept to resolve questions about it—as well as physicalism, reference in the philosophy of language, the knowledge argument, and more. Much of the material discussed in this episode can be found in greater depth in Frank’s 1998 book, From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defence of Conceptual Analysis.

OUTLINE:

00:00 Introduction

5:42 Growing Up in a Household of Philosophers 

11:06 What Is Conceptual Analysis?

16:01 Physicalism, the Location Problem, and Conceptual Analysis

21:00 Conceptual Analysis and the Sorites Paradox

25:48 A Priori Physicalism

38:13 Physicalism in Math and Elsewhere

43:31 Color and the Location Problem

54:10 Ethics and the Location Problem

1:06:49 Metaphilosophy

1:13:13 Naming, Language, and Mind

1:30:05 One-Spaceism and Two-Spaceism

1:39:12 Mary’s Room and the Knowledge Argument

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.