Definition of externalism in English:
externalism
nounɪkˈstəːn(ə)lɪz(ə)mɛkˈstəːn(ə)lɪz(ə)mikˈstərnəˌlizəm
mass noun1Excessive regard for outward form in religion.
religion needs to be questioned for its negative attitudes, hypocrisy, and externalism
Example sentencesExamples
- Eventually, he argued, this is what in fact happened so that the prophets faced a dead externalism in religious practice and a mechanical routine in religious thought.
- Having established the principle which condemned religious externalism, Jesus went on to give specific examples of its practice.
2Philosophy
The view that mental events and acts are essentially dependent on the world external to the mind, in opposition to the Cartesian separation of mental and physical worlds.
Example sentencesExamples
- However, one may draw rather different conclusions from the Cartesian thought experiment - turning it against externalism.
- This weak externalism naturally expands into more robust varieties.
- So externalism poses no extra challenge to functionalism.
- The difference between externalism and internalism is that of watching a movie versus having a role in one and making up our own lines.
- By considering a series of examples, I shall attempt to exhibit as clearly as possible the fundamental intuition about epistemic rationality that externalism seems to violate.
Derivatives
adjective & noun
Still, the externalist conception of justified belief does seem descriptive, whereas the internalist conception is explicitly regulative.
Example sentencesExamples
- All these examples are known as externalist theories, where mythographers explain myths as a reaction to the physical environment.
- Against Searle's account l have defended an externalist conception of collective intentionality that incorporates social relations.
- Moreover, there are general reasons for thinking that phenomenal sameness is not always sufficient for sameness of thought - this is a principle which externalists defend.
- Other philosophers have argued for an externalist conception of mental content, according to which meaning is fixed by the social context, more particularly the language community.