The ‘brains in a vat’ thought experiment, described by Putnam, imagines a brain connected to a computer that simulates reality. Putnam argues that if we were brains in a vat, our language would not refer to real objects. “In short,” Putnam concluded, “if we are brains in a vat, then ‘We are brains in a vat’ is false.” The brains-in-a-vat hypothesis is thus paradoxical and self-defeating, making skepticism flawed.
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