Bivs, Space and 'in'

Mac Cumhaill, Clare

doi:10.1007/s10670-019-00198-z

Bivs, Space and 'in'

Mac Cumhaill, Clare

Authors

Dr Clare Mac Cumhaill clare.maccumhaill@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

I present a novel anti-sceptical BIV argument by focusing on conditions on the production and use of the locative preposition ‘in’. I distinguish two uses of ‘in’—material and descriptive phenomenological—and I explain in what respect movement is central to the concept that our use of ‘in’ expresses. I go on to argue that a functionalist semantics of the intelligible use of ‘in’ demands a materialist philosophy of action in the spirit of G.E.M. Anscombe, but also why the structure of space is not irrelevant either; appeal to the structure of space unsettles the causal-empirical assumptions that ground the picture of subjectivity and agency that the biv narrative assumes. Finally, I explain why a functionalist semantics demands a Naïve Realist metaphysics of perception, consistent with some of Putnam’s last writings on philosophy of perception.

Citation

Mac Cumhaill, C. (2022). Bivs, Space and 'in'. Erkenntnis, 87(1), 369-392. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-019-00198-z

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 25, 2019
Online Publication Date	Feb 11, 2020
Publication Date	2022-02
Deposit Date	Nov 7, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Feb 20, 2020
Journal	Erkenntnis
Print ISSN	0165-0106
Electronic ISSN	1572-8420
Publisher	Springer
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	87
Issue	1
Pages	369-392
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-019-00198-z

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