Separatory Confusion Does Not Corrupt

If I am confused, and I think two people are one and the same, that may impair my ability to refer to either of them. This is combinatory confusion. What if I am confused, and think that one person is actually two people? This is separatory confusion, and it seems quite different. After all, even in my confusion, my thoughts and my referential devices seem to track back to a single individual. Unnsteinsson has recently argued that both types of confusion corrupt, i.e. they may prevent us from referring the right way. In this paper, I examine the four arguments he offers for this conclusion, and I argue that the intuitive view that separatory confusion does not corrupt can withstand his challenge.

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Publication Details

Journal
Croatian Journal of Philosophy
Published
2026-01-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.52685/cjp.25.75.8
Primary Topic
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Separatory Confusion Does Not Corrupt

Alexandru Radulescu
Croatian Journal of Philosophy
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
article

Separatory Confusion Does Not Corrupt

Alexandru Radulescu
article en

Abstract

If I am confused, and I think two people are one and the same, that may impair my ability to refer to either of them. This is combinatory confusion. What if I am confused, and think that one person is actually two people? This is separatory confusion, and it seems quite different. After all, even in my confusion, my thoughts and my referential devices seem to track back to a single individual. Unnsteinsson has recently argued that both types of confusion corrupt, i.e. they may prevent us from referring the right way. In this paper, I examine the four arguments he offers for this conclusion, and I argue that the intuitive view that separatory confusion does not corrupt can withstand his challenge.

Croatian Journal of PhilosophyVol. 25(75)
University of Missouri (US)
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 88%
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
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