Capacities and philosophers
True story:
Pragmatist: "Are you saying you don’t think a cup has the capacity to hold water?"
Behaviorist: "No, I’m saying there’s no such thing as a capacity. A cup either has water in it or it doesn’t."
Pragmatist: "But what about a cup you haven’t seen before. Like that one there. Would you say that cup has a capacity to hold water?"
Behaviorist: "No. I don’t know." (shrugs)
Pragmatist: "But surely you’ve had to buy cups before! What did you do then?"
Behaviorist: "People have told me that cups hold water, and I trust them, so that’s how I behave towards the cup."
[Brief silence.]
Pragmatist: "What if I filled this cup with water, right to the brim. Wouldn’t you say it has the capacity to hold water, even though it can’t hold any more?"
Behaviorist: ". . . What is this, a riddle?"
Novelist (to me): "I think this conversation, unlike that cup, won’t hold any water."
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