Showing and Telling: Can the Difference Between Right and Left be Explained in Words?

Abstract

Jonathan Bennett claims to find in Kant’s writings a thesis concerning the meanings of ‘right’ and ‘left’ which he calls the ‘Kantian Hypothesis’.¹ Bennett suggests that this thesis is refuted by messages based on the failure of parity conservation in weak interactions such as beta decay.² Whether or not Kant actually held the thesis that Bennett attributes to him I am not concerned to dispute but I do wish to argue that, when properly understood, the Kantian Hypothesis is not refuted by signals describing parity-violating experiments.