Think of it this way. There are two people, A and B, who are exact physical duplicates of one another. They are, however, embedded in different environments. If you think that A and B must necessarily have all the same beliefs, you are an internalist. If you think their beliefs can be different, you are an externalist.
They are the same, they pretty clearly have the same beliefs. I infer from the disagreement that this is about “knowledge” (which is a lot more confused than belief). With knowledge, it depends how you define it (does it have to be true?). Other.
No, it is not about knowledge, it’s about belief (or any other representational state). An externalist believes that the content of a belief—what a belief is about—is determined by causal entanglements with the environment. I have beliefs about Eliezer Yudkowsky because my brain states are causally entangled with Eliezer Yudkowsky. These beliefs need not qualify as knowledge. Say a physical duplicate of me appeared on Mars by a random thermal fluctuation. Even though that duplicate has the same brain state as I do, his brain state is not causally entangled with Eliezer, so the externalist would say that he does not have beliefs about Eliezer. If you think this is obviously false, you are most likely an internalist.
Other: What? The brain state simply is. You can give it meaning, but meaning is a two place function. I’m probably confused.
Think of it this way. There are two people, A and B, who are exact physical duplicates of one another. They are, however, embedded in different environments. If you think that A and B must necessarily have all the same beliefs, you are an internalist. If you think their beliefs can be different, you are an externalist.
They are the same, they pretty clearly have the same beliefs. I infer from the disagreement that this is about “knowledge” (which is a lot more confused than belief). With knowledge, it depends how you define it (does it have to be true?). Other.
No, it is not about knowledge, it’s about belief (or any other representational state). An externalist believes that the content of a belief—what a belief is about—is determined by causal entanglements with the environment. I have beliefs about Eliezer Yudkowsky because my brain states are causally entangled with Eliezer Yudkowsky. These beliefs need not qualify as knowledge. Say a physical duplicate of me appeared on Mars by a random thermal fluctuation. Even though that duplicate has the same brain state as I do, his brain state is not causally entangled with Eliezer, so the externalist would say that he does not have beliefs about Eliezer. If you think this is obviously false, you are most likely an internalist.
keyword “about”.