Content Externalism and Skepticism
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Content externalism holds that the content of a person's thoughts is determined in part by facts about her social or physical environment. It poses a dilemma: if we accept externalism, how can we know the content of our own thoughts? The Twin Earth thought experiment is the classic illustration of the thesis, and it is exploited to rewrite the brain-in-a-vat argument.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Content fixing: ask whether thought content is fixed by inner states or by the external environment. - Self-knowledge: test whether you can know what you are thinking without consulting the environment. - Circle spotting: detect the argumentative circle in which content must be known before the environment can be checked.
Anchor fast decisions
The dilemma arises from the tension between externalism and self-knowledge: if the content of a thought is fixed by the natural kinds of the external environment, then to determine what I am thinking I must first determine how the environment is; but if I must first know what I am thinking in order to investigate the environment, a circle results. Skeptics exploit exactly this to rewrite the brain-in-a-vat argument.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-content-externalism/verified
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