This paper is a reply to Frank Hindriks’ paper “A Modest Solution to the Problem of Rule-Following”. Hindriks claims to find
room for what he calls a
modest solution to the Kripkensteinian problem of rule-following, different from both straight and sceptical solutions. Hindriks
criticises Philip Pettit’s “ethocentric” solution and goes on to provide his own, “modest” one. My paper is in two parts.
In the first part, I argue that there is no room for a “modest” solution to sceptical problems: depending on how one reads
Kripke, Hindriks’ “modest” solution is always going to turn out either straight or sceptical. In the second part, I defend
the ethocentric solution against Hindriks’ arguments. In particular, I argue that the topic-neutral specifications of favourable
conditions which Pettit uses are superior to Hindriks’ topic-specific ones.
*I want to thank Frank Hindriks for comments on an earlier version, but I take full responsibility for any remaining errors
or misunderstandings. This work has been financially supported by the Academy of Finland (project 202513).