Putnam's Arguments Against Global Scepticism

Roland Wohlfarth
201310596
Tutor: Schalk
Assignment 1: Putnam – Scepticism
Due: 15/09/2015

Scepticism can be understood as doubting the truth of something; it is the philosophical theory which asserts the some knowledge is not possible. Hilary Putnam attacks global scepticism and provides a solution on scepticism about the external world. Putnam begins by explaining that when referring to something in the external world the term and the object in use are “causally connected through the act of naming” (Brueckner, 2004). When referring to something there is a causal constraint – “A term refers to an object only if there is an appropriate causal connection between” an object and a term (Hickey, 2002). The ‘causal constraint’ is the main idea throughout Putnam’s argument. The idea
This can be understood easier through the example of a weaver bird which builds its home on the edge of a palm tree’s branch, however, when completed the bird’s nest looks like a miniature Eiffel Tower even though the bird had not intended it to have any relation or similarity to the monument itself. Thus, the causal constraint applies as the bird’s nest is not referred to as looking like the Eiffel Tower as it does not involve the appropriate causal connection between the two but is rather a random result of a weaver bird’s attempt to build itself a nest. For something such as the birds nest to be referred to something else such as the Eiffel Tower there must be a previous intention and awareness which supports the reference. Putnam explains further that when referring to something the appropriate