Water is and is not H2O

The Twin Earth thought experiment invites us to consider a liquid that has all of the superficial properties associated with water (clear, potable, etc.) but has entirely different deeper causal properties (composed of “XYZ” rather than of H2O). Debates about natural kind concepts have sought to acc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mind & language 2020-04, Vol.35 (2), p.183-208
Main Authors: Tobia, Kevin P., Newman, George E., Knobe, Joshua
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
concepts
dual character
experimental philosophy
Intuition
natural kinds
Philosophy
Twin Earth
Water
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The Twin Earth thought experiment invites us to consider a liquid that has all of the superficial properties associated with water (clear, potable, etc.) but has entirely different deeper causal properties (composed of “XYZ” rather than of H2O). Debates about natural kind concepts have sought to accommodate an apparent fact about ordinary people's judgments: Intuitively, the Twin Earth liquid is not water. We present results showing that people do not have this intuition. Instead, people tend to judge that there is a sense in which the liquid is not water but also a sense in which it is water.
ISSN:0268-1064
1468-0017
DOI:10.1111/mila.12234