Matheus Valente

@mthsvlnt.bsky.social

Philosopher at the METIS group (UNED, Madrid). Mostly phil of language and mind via Lewisian gods, Black's spheres and Sleeping Beauties.

Dear Dr. Aaronson, as sympathetic as I am to the moral and political reasons for enforcing alphabetical other in the authorship of papers written by multiple authors, private reasons impede me from signing up for your manifesto at this time. Signed, Dr. Valente.

🎉El pasado martes cerramos el curso 2025-2026 del Seminario Metis con 29 charlas Hemos contado con ponentes de España, Reino Unido, Argentina, México, Estados Unidos, Italia, Francia, Alemania, Portugal y Suiza🌎 ¡Gracias a participantes y ponentes por hacerlo posible!

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Someone born blind and deaf suddenly regains vision and hearing at the same time. The doctors ensure that one’s first experiences are of a red patch presented simultaneously to a stable-pitch tone. Can you immediately distinguish the colour from the sound? Can you tell which is which? #philsky

Hot take: the label "Russellianism" in phil of language/mind ought to be reappropriated by theories which not only postulate singular propositions but also restrict the realm of that which we can think singularly about to nothing more than ourselves, the present time, and our mental states. #PhilSky

Someone born blind and deaf suddenly regains vision and hearing at the same time. The doctors ensure that one’s first experiences are of a red patch presented simultaneously to a stable-pitch tone. Can you immediately distinguish the colour from the sound? Can you tell which is which? #philsky

Philosophy is the only x such that 'What is x?' is a meaningful central question within x. A form of inquiry whose rules beg to be twisted around themselves in a way that normally would be self-defeating or at least paralysing, but instead, in this case, leads to the deepest of enterprises. #philsky

The Sleeping Beauty problem divided philosophers into many camps, but one promising original theory has never been explored. In this paper, I address that gap by arguing that Beauty ought to have 1/3 confidence that the fair coin will come up Heads before the experiment even starts. #philsky

A link between the Axiom of Choice, Haecceitism, Singular or De Se Thought, Random Selection, and Arbitrary Reference: all allow for the singling out of particular things even if they'd otherwise be indistinguishable from others. #philsky

What's for dinner? For carbs: Rice or Pasta. For protein: Tofu or Beans. So, P(RT)=P(RB)=P(PT)=P(PB)=1/4. Chef tells you: "If there's Rice today, then it'll be Rice&Beans cause the Tofu we bought today gets sour mixed w/ Rice. Sorry, no Rice&Tofu today!" Do you now have P(RB)=1/3 or P(RB)=1/2?

If I apriori know p, then p is evidentially inert for me. So, I cannot use the fact that I exist as evidence for objective hypotheses. But this fact isn't a priori for you: it's relevant contingent information. Thus, you and I might be maximal peers but still differ in what our evidence supports.

If you and I completely agree with each other in all of our beliefs, could we nonetheless differ in our desires? Suppose I'm thirsty but you're not. So, I desire to drink water but you don't desire yourself to drink water. Fine. But my question is: could you not desire *me* to drink water?