Referential Indeterminacy: A Response to Professor Putnam

Abstract

Professor Putnam’s paper is divided into two parts, in one of which (the latter, as it happens) he attacks what he identifies as Positivistic Theory of Science, and in the other of which (the first half) he sketches elements of an alternative theory of his own. I shall comment only on Putnam’s theory, ignoring his attack on positivism. In thus taking advantage of the fact that philosophical positions tend to be relatively hard to defend and relatively easy to attack, I shall be attempting to make things relatively easy for myself and hard for Professor Putnam. First, let me outline briefly what I take to be the main tenets of Putnam’s position.