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Semantic holism and the insider–outsider problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2011

MARK Q. GARDINER  and
STEVEN ENGLER
MARK Q. GARDINER
Affiliation:
Department of Humanities, Mount Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Calgary, AB, T3E 6K6, Canada e-mail: mgardiner@mtroyal.ca, sengler@mtroyal.ca
STEVEN ENGLER
Affiliation:
Department of Humanities, Mount Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Calgary, AB, T3E 6K6, Canada e-mail: mgardiner@mtroyal.ca, sengler@mtroyal.ca
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Abstract

This article argues that – despite the value of distinguishing between insiders and outsiders in a contingent and relative sense – there is no fundamental insider–outsider problem. We distinguish weak and strong versions of ‘insiderism’ (privileged versus monopolistic access to knowledge) and then sociological and religious versions of the latter. After reviewing critiques of the sociological version, we offer a holistic semantic critique of the religious version (i.e. the view that religious experience and/or language offers sui generis access to knowledge). We argue that all evidence for mental states is overt, public, and observable, and, hence, that there can be no significant difference in the access to knowledge of insiders and outsiders.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 239 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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