Sherlock Holmes Has a Plan (To Pack His Bag)

A plan is a fact-based statement with which you can agree or disagree

Suitcase, adapted from Peter H on Pixabay

In the Fall of 2001, my senior year at Brown University, I took James Dreier’s course on Relativism in the Philosophy Department.

I still have with me today — now in South America — a paper we read in that class: “Plans, Oughts, Properties” by Allan Gibbard. Gibbard presented it at the October 2000 Chapel Hill Colloquium, but it doesn’t seem to have been otherwise published. It’s possible my photocopy is a pre-internet artifact and that it is indeed a “paper” in the physical sense.

The Gibbard paper. Photo by me.

Gibbard is talking about how to classify statements, and in particular about what it means to make a plan.

Sherlock Holmes plans to flee

Gibbard’s example here: “Holmes is stalked by Moriarty, imagine.” Holmes, knowing his nemesis draws near, wants to pack his bag and flee, but he can’t pack too early (lest others notice) nor too late (lest he miss the train). He must plan his actions.

People can agree or disagree with someone else’s plan