The thesis Massey goes for in this paper is, I think, very challenging. The analytic-synthetic distinction, which was ultimately left in the blur by twentieth century philosophy, is said to be eluded by the new concept of conceivability. There are arguments based on conceivability out there, and they are no less blurry than those based on analyticity. Such arguments are traced back to Hume. Unsurprisingly, thought experiemnts seem to be the prototypical example.
Massey, G. (1991). Backdoor analyticty. In T. Horowitz, & G. Massey (Eds.), Thought experiments in science and philosophy (pp. 285-296). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Read the article here.
Very interesting although a bit too technical for me to easily understand. The usefulness of the analytic/synthetic distinction was, I thought, to clarify rationalism v empiricism. That the distinction is blurry only means that we can still argue if one is a rationalist or an empiricist. As far as conceivability one can imagine going backwards in time to when the pyramids were being built or can we? By definition nothing you do tomorrow can make it yesterday. From the point of view of the so called time traveler they get into a machine and the next moment they are witnessing pyramids being built but it is the NEXT moment. It would be better described as being transported to another universe where events are taking place just like they took place in our world thousands of year ago. So when scientists talk about time going backwards or slowing down I have to ask do they mean the same thing by "time" as we mean by "time." The same could be said for space being curved. Is "curved" as they use it jargon that means something else than what it means in ordinary language? Last thought: Sometimes in order to solve a problem we can invent something that does not exist. When solving a problem about trains going to Chicago and New York one might invent negative miles per hour to describe the trains going backwards. That does not mean negative speed exists or even can exist it simply means by pretending you can solve the problem. It just means you create a math to describe time going backwards or the train going backwards to solve the problem not that it really exits.
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