But, provided you speak about this notion, why would verificationismism lead to external world anti-realism?
Anti-realism is not quite correct here, it’s more that claims about external reality are meaningless as opposed to false.
One could argue that synthetic statements aren’t really about external reality: What we really mean is “If I were to check, my experiences would be as if there were a tree in what would seem to be my garden”. Then our ordinary language wouldn’t be meaningless. But this would be a highly revisionary proposal. We arguably don’t mean to say something like the above. We plausibly simply mean to assert the existence of a real tree in a real garden.
I’m not making a claim about what people actually mean by the words they say. I’m saying that some interpretations of what people say happen to lack meaning. I agree that many people fervently believe in some form of external reality, I simply think that belief is meaningless, in the same way that a belief about where the electron “truly is” is meaningless.
Anti-realism is not quite correct here, it’s more that claims about external reality are meaningless as opposed to false.
This is semantics but I’d say what you’re describing fits the label “anti-realism” perfectly well. I wrote a post on Why Realists and Anti-Realists disagree. (It also mentions existence anti-realism briefly at the end.)
Anti-realism is not quite correct here, it’s more that claims about external reality are meaningless as opposed to false.
I’m not making a claim about what people actually mean by the words they say. I’m saying that some interpretations of what people say happen to lack meaning. I agree that many people fervently believe in some form of external reality, I simply think that belief is meaningless, in the same way that a belief about where the electron “truly is” is meaningless.
This is semantics but I’d say what you’re describing fits the label “anti-realism” perfectly well. I wrote a post on Why Realists and Anti-Realists disagree. (It also mentions existence anti-realism briefly at the end.)
From my POV , you are external reality.