Why ‘Swampman’ would not even get as far as thinking it was Davidson: On the spatio-temporal basis of Davidson's conjuring trick

Read, Rupert and Allesøe, Bo (2019) Why ‘Swampman’ would not even get as far as thinking it was Davidson: On the spatio-temporal basis of Davidson's conjuring trick. Philosophical Investigations, 42 (2). pp. 350-366. ISSN 0190-0536

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Abstract

In this article, we analyse one of the most famous recent thought experiments in philosophy, namely Donald Davidson’s Swampman. Engaging recent commentators on Davidson’s Swampman as well as analysing the spatio-temporal conditions of the thought-experiment, we will show how the ‘experiment’ inevitably fails. For it doesn’t take seriously some of its own defining characteristics: crucially, Swampman’s creation of a sudden in a place distinct from Davidson’s. Instead of denigrating philosophical thought-experiments per se, our analysis points towards considering thought-experiments in a different sense: imaginary scenarios helpfully self-deconstructing rather than constituting substantive philosophical resources.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Wittgenstein
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	09 May 2019 15:30
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:52
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/70892
DOI:	10.1111/phin.12236

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