沼泽人疑难与历时整体论

The Swampman Puzzle and Diachronic Holism

如果历史对于心灵是必要的话,那么前者以何种方式对后者构成约束而使之具备诸如意向性、内容之类的规范性地位?本文通过对沼泽人思想实验的分析,对这些问题给出一种历时整体论的独特解答,即瞬间形成的沼泽人仍具有规范意义上的心灵。历时整体论既反对包括目的论语义学在内的狭义历史主义立场,但又不轻视自然主义进化论的解释作用。本文引入了回顾必然性这一特殊模态概念,并说明在何种意义上它可成为历时整体论的核心观念。

How does history constitute a constraint on mind so as to make mind possess such normative statuses such as intentionality and content? This paper yields a unique,diachronically holistic answer to this question via a novel analysis of the Swampman thought experiment.Diachronic holism distinguishes itself from the sort of narrow historicist position represented by teleosemantics while granting no less importance to the explanatory role of evolution.A special modal notion of retrospective necessity is introduced with an eye to explicating the sense in which it serves as the core concept of diachronic holism.