Reference is fixed socially, not by individual consciousness

Evidence

Putnam’s work on natural-kind terms (‘gold’, ‘tiger’, etc.) is that ‘meanings ain’t in the head’: the sense of these words is fixed by their reference, which in turn depends partly on the inner structure of their referent, partly on the ‘linguistic division of labour’ through which the community as a whole, not individual speakers, acquires know­ ledge of that structure. This account of reference has been taken further by Tyler Burge, who argues that an individual’s mental states cannot be identified independently of her social context and physical environment. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 327

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the externalist theory of reference that anchors Callinicos’s counter-argument to poststructuralist anti-realism.
• XREF: Externalism about meaning parallels the strategic-essentialism problem: whether meaning/identity can be held falsely by an individual or is fixed by the collective. — connects to: Speaking is what gives private concern socially usable meaning — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 95