Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

PHILOSOPHY SHOULD NOT BE JUST AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE: A Dialogue with Hilary Putnam

PHILOSOPHY SHOULD NOT BE JUST AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE: A Dialogue with Hilary Putnam Hilary Putnam and János János : Let us begin with a nonacademic question. What is your relationship to the movies The Matrix and The Matrix II? x Hilary Putnam: In the book Reason, Truth, and History, which I published about twenty years ago, the first chapter was titled “Brains in a Vat.” It had basically the same scenario as The Matrix does, the scenario in which all human beings, all senx tient beings, exist in a vat. Their sensations are totally controlled by a computer. I was not aware that the producers of The Matrix had read my work. It seemed posx sible that they came on this idea by themselves; but, in fact, before The Matrix II was released, I was approached and asked whether I was willing for my chapter to be listed in references on the Matrix II website. I gave my permission. I : Which leads me to a second question. You quite often work with thought experiments of the kind that are commonly used in natural sciences but not in philosophy. What do you think is the role of thought experiments in philosophical argument? 11:1 Copyright 2005 by Duke University Press cal view, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Common Knowledge Duke University Press

PHILOSOPHY SHOULD NOT BE JUST AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE: A Dialogue with Hilary Putnam

Putnam, Hilary; Boros, Janos
Common Knowledge , Volume 11 (1) – Jan 1, 2005
Download PDF
10 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/duke-university-press/philosophy-should-not-be-just-an-academic-discipline-a-dialogue-with-HqPleWafeP
Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2005 by Duke University Press
ISSN
0961-754X
eISSN
1538-4578
DOI
10.1215/0961754X-11-1-126
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Hilary Putnam and János János : Let us begin with a nonacademic question. What is your relationship to the movies The Matrix and The Matrix II? x Hilary Putnam: In the book Reason, Truth, and History, which I published about twenty years ago, the first chapter was titled “Brains in a Vat.” It had basically the same scenario as The Matrix does, the scenario in which all human beings, all senx tient beings, exist in a vat. Their sensations are totally controlled by a computer. I was not aware that the producers of The Matrix had read my work. It seemed posx sible that they came on this idea by themselves; but, in fact, before The Matrix II was released, I was approached and asked whether I was willing for my chapter to be listed in references on the Matrix II website. I gave my permission. I : Which leads me to a second question. You quite often work with thought experiments of the kind that are commonly used in natural sciences but not in philosophy. What do you think is the role of thought experiments in philosophical argument? 11:1 Copyright 2005 by Duke University Press cal view,

Journal

Common Knowledge – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2005

There are no references for this article.