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The members of Putnam's expedition on Twin Earth were defeated by dysentery. The crew drunk as water what the natives called so, while the chief of staff was discussing rigid designation, stereotypes, and definite descriptions. |
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Next came Rorty's expedition. In this case, the native informants, called Antipodeans, were tested in order to discover whether they had feelings and/or mental representations elicited by the the word water. It is well known that the explorers were unable to ascertain whether or not Antipodeans had a clear distinction between mind and matter, since they used to speak only in terms of the state of their nerves. If an infant neared a hot stove, his mother cried: Oh my God, he will stimulate his C-fibers! Instead of saying It looked like an elephant, but then it struck me that elephants don't occur on this continent, so I realized that it must be a mastodon, they used to say I had G-412 together with F-11, but then I had S-147. |
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The problem of the third expedition was the following: supposing that Antipodeans do not have mental states, can they understand the meaning of a sentence? |
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Here follows the recording of a conversation between a Terrestrial and an Antipodean. |
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Terrestrial: Do you understand this sentence: I have G-412? |
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First published in VS 44/45 (1986). |
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