Phi 346-02 Sp13
 
Reading guide for Fri. 4/12: Kripke, Naming and Necessity, pp. 144-155
 
 

The final and most important part of this discussion of the mind-body problem (pp. 150-155) is his consideration of the reply to the Cartesian argument mentioned at the end of last assignment.

Since the reply follows the lines of things he has said about theoretical identifications in other cases, he must say what is special about this case. He finds the special features in the relation of pain (and other mental states) to the idea of qualitatively identical epistemic situations; see, for example, his talk of “immediate phenomenological quality” (p. 152).

While he thus argues against a way of using his ideas in reply to the Cartesian argument, he ends with a footnote (note 77, p. 155) that cautions against concluding too much from his defense of that argument.