Brains, Persons, and Society *** ABSTRACTS    Cervelli, Persone e Società ***ABSTRACTS

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David Chalmers
Australian National University

Terminological Disputes and Philosophical Progress

Is there a distinction between questions of fact and questions of language? Even among those who reject an analytic-synthetic distinction, a version of the original distinction is omnipresent in philosophy, in the notion of a terminological dispute. Here, I aim to clarify the notion of a terminological dispute, and to articulate the role that dissolving terminological disputes can play as a method of philosophical progress.  I will also bring the analysis to bear on questions about primitive concepts and the nature of conceptual analysis.