Ontology is the study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations.
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The importance of a state without a prior state?
Does the existence of a state with no prior time throw models we use for explaining the existing universe for a loop? Or does it even matter?
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3answers
55 views
What state(s) (is/are) the next state of the universe dependant on?
Is the next state of the universe only dependent on the current state or is every state before the future have some play on the future state?
(other than forming the states between them and the ...
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3answers
59 views
Why do fictional characters not exemplify properties?
I recently read about encoding and exemplifying.
From what I understand - Detective Smith (a real person) exemplifies detectiveness, but Sherlock Homes does not.
Sherlock Homes isn't real - and ...
2
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1answer
66 views
Are electron fields physically real?
Although atoms had been discussed since antiquity as a theory of matter it
was only at the beginning of the 20th century that convincing evidence
was found, through brownian motion - in fact this was ...
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2answers
37 views
What is the distinction between individuals and particulars?
I'm reading about properties. I'm having a hard time distinguishing between individuals and particulars, as they relate to universals.
A precise definition of both would be helpful.
Thank you.
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29 views
are fundamental questions like “cogito ergo sum” even provable?
The rationalist descartian position states that everything can be doubted except doubt itself. With the phrase "cogito ergo sum" it claims to establish the existence of one ones existence, if i did ...
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9 views
Have phenomenologists considered poetic subjectivities in their investigation of things-for-us?
Dylan Thomas the late Welsh poet said:
“A good poem helps to change the shape and significance of the universe,
helps to extend everyone's knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
...
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1answer
41 views
What is the essential something that Heidegger suggests that philosophers can learn from poetry?
In this transcript of a conversation between Simon Critchley & Badiou on Badiou's book Being and Event, Badiou states:
And after that, I have also to understand why there is in modern times a ...
2
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1answer
46 views
What is the difference between Derrida's Deconstruction and Heidegger's Destruktion?
Derrida's deconstruction, as far as I understand it, is to critically examine values as embodied in binary situations like signifier and signified where there is an implicit hierarchy of value - one ...
3
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64 views
What is the difference between Dasein and consciousness?
In Heidegger's Being and Time he probes the question of Being, and not of beings; he probes it by querying that being for which Being is a problem. This being he names Dasein = da sein = being there. ...
2
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1answer
33 views
Whn Badiou asserts that mathematics is Ontology what does he mean by Ontology?
Badious oeuvre can be succintly phrased in his slogan: mathematic is ontology.
Mathematics I understand. So the question really is the other part of his slogan. I take his 'is' to be normal and ...
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2answers
55 views
What is Ontological Commitment?
What is Ontological Commitment?
I can infer some understanding from its usage in philosophical texts, but I would like to have a definitive answer to be able to confidently use the notion on my own.
...
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32 views
Aristotle on the actuality of the soul - problem understanding 'de anima'
In Aristotle's de anima passage 413a - 5 it is said that
the actuality of some parts of the soul is the actuality of the
parts of the body
This is supposed to argue that soul is not separable ...
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5answers
180 views
What is the difference between The one, Buddha-nature, Brahman and Tao?
God in Christianity, Dharmakāya in Buddism, Brahman in Hinduism, Beneath Abstraction in Taoism and Flying Spaghetti Monster in Pastafarianism are all plays as a ultimate, eternal and absolute being. ...
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3answers
140 views
Succinct argument for the fundamental role of binary digits as information units
I will clear up the context of this question so that the potential answers can be effectively targeted towards what I'm looking for.
Information (at least in the non-semantic, canonical sense of the ...
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50 views
Any recommendation of books on Fichte's later period thoughts
It seems extremely difficult to find a book that elaborates on Fichte's later period (after Jena period) thoughts. Can anyone recommend me a book?
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2answers
103 views
existence of objects under the microscope
Can there be any difference between the existence of things we sense directly and things we
sense using instruments like microscope?
Along the same lines , is it possible that some objects around ...
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3answers
321 views
What would a quantum interpretation without ontology be like?
Luboš Motl keeps insisting quantum mechanics invalidates ontology, and has made ontology obsolete, just like phlogiston. What would metaphysics without ontology look like, where words like "existence" ...
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1answer
89 views
Philosophically what does it mean to be committed to the existence of electrons? [closed]
In our immediate perception electrons are not seen and their existence must be inferred.
Are we in the same position as say the ancient greeks were when they were speculating that the Earth was a ...
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0answers
22 views
Spirit vs. big Other in Zizek's philosophy
What is the relationship between the Hegelian Spirit and Lacan's big Other in the view of Slavoj Zizek?
Are there passages where both are present? or where Spirit is used in a more explicitly ...
4
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0answers
56 views
What is the Event according to Badiou?
What is the Event according to Alain Badiou? Might he give examples of such "events" in real life? I am having trouble understanding the explanations I have found.
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1answer
45 views
Enlightenment and Creation. Your analysis? [closed]
For all the eastern philosophies and many other religions, the goal of life is enlightenment, which means insight or awakening to the true nature of reality.
Would it not have been easier to not ...
4
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3answers
143 views
Does physicalism *prove* that the universe is self-subsistent?
I've often heard/read people (Hawking, Dawkins etc) making out that Physics or Physicalism proves that there is no God, or no need for one.
Yet it seems to me that it's an assumption that is ...
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5answers
358 views
Why is there a God rather than nothing? [closed]
Theists ask, "Why is there something rather than nothing?" How would they answer the question, "Why is there a God rather than nothing?" Is this a valid objection to theism?
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5answers
529 views
Is the idea of dividing the universe into particles anything more than a convenience?
In theory, we speak of a particle as having properties.
In reality, the measurement of any property is just an interaction between the target to be measured, and the measuring apparatus, where the ...
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0answers
30 views
What is a modern particle in philosophical terms?
A classical particle is in spacetime and has a continuous motion within it. Properties such as electrical charge and mass inhere within it. This description in its qualitative essentials is no ...
14
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9answers
466 views
Is Nothing actually imaginable?
It's possible to imagine something, for example a table, we see one everyday and can bring it in front of our minds eye (although it's a moot point whether we can see it - I certainly don't). But of ...
3
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119 views
The Indispensability Argument and Impure Set Theory
Assume for the sake of this question that mathematics is reducible to set theory in such a way that the only mathematical objects there really are, are sets.
Suppose further that the Indispensability ...
7
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1answer
179 views
Does the Simulation Argument differ in essence from the Evil Genius puzzle?
I recently read an article that suggested we might be able to determine if we are part of a computer simulation run by our descendants. The idea seemed far-fetched, but after looking around, I see ...
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1answer
63 views
What does it mean for a naturalist to claim that forces/actions “exist”?
tl;dr: How can forces (e.g. gravity) be said to "exist" or be true ?
I've had this question for so long, I assume it stems from a basic misunderstanding about naturalism or metaphysics, so please set ...
2
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2answers
109 views
What would Kant say, if I asked him about the ontological status of the integers?
I understand that Kant remarked that Space & Time are forms that the intuition take. Would he also say that of the integers? Are they judgements? That is they lie within his Category of Quantity.
4
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1answer
63 views
How can categories be derived deductively?
In a book on Aristotle's metaphysics I read a passage on the differences between his and Kant's categories. It says that the concept of categories, in both Aristotle's and Kant's case, wasn't ...
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1answer
49 views
Cause , Interaction and Effect
Let there be two hypothetical, irreducible objects A and B, both possess a changeable property P. If A and B interact, their property P is effected.
How do I distinguish between entities and ...
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2answers
151 views
What is Causality? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What does “to cause” mean?
Take an example, It is reported that short-circuit caused fire in city bakery. In this case short-circuit and fire was in a causality, ...
5
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3answers
253 views
Spinoza's a priori proof for the existence of God
I am currently studying some aspects of Spinoza's philosophy, mainly in contrast to Kant. It seems to me that Spinoza is just the kind of "dogmatic metaphysician" Kant criticises. I know that Kant ...
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1answer
49 views
Do virtual laws have to reflect physical world law analogy, despite a big difference
I had a related question in mind and after reading this question I intend to put it here. This question is from a different perspective, based on differences in physical and cyber world.
The story is ...
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1answer
79 views
Is this an Immanuel Kant quote? [closed]
You can imagine the perfect chair in your mind but you cannot build the perfect chair.
Or something very similar. I believe that is Kant but I cannot find any reference to the quote anywhere. Any ...
3
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1answer
96 views
Are numbers noumena?
According to OED, noumenon is
An object knowable only by the mind or intellect, not by the senses
But I'm a little confused at considering about numbers, they seem to be objects knowable only ...
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93 views
Is Deleuze's characterization of Sartre (that his central obsession was “lakes of non-being and the viscosity of matter”) fair?
In his essay entitled My teacher Gilles Deleuze characterises the "central obsession" of Sartre as being "lakes of non-being and the viscosity of matter".
Is this a fair characterisation of Sartre's ...
4
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2answers
90 views
Psychoanalysis and the ontologization of the self
I'm very interested in psychoanalysis ontologization of the "self"-concept meaning: The idea that there is a self - a continuous entity with some inner dynamic, that we must fight (defense mechanism) ...
5
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2answers
134 views
What is the ontological stance of formalists on mathematical objects?
Are modern proponents of formalism associated with an ontoglogical opinion regarding numbers?
If they view mathematics as the process of manipulating string according to agreed upon rules, there ...
2
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1answer
78 views
Is silence more ontologically fundamental than meaning?
If the structures which enable the emergence of meaning in awareness behave according to principles which do not require meaning to function, this means meaning is inextricably tied to silence or ...
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1answer
71 views
The Ontological Status of Chance
An occurrence such as bumping into a friend at a bus terminal bring to fore the role of Chance in the happenings of events. In this example, would Chance be exhaustively identified as the cause of the ...
3
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3answers
195 views
Hegel says 'quantity changes lead to quality changes', do you agree with it?
Material things change every second (through natural (atomic) "decay"). However. things in the mind seem to not change at all. For example, 1+1=2 never varies.
What is the difference between these ...
2
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1answer
112 views
How do we know that grammar is a thing?
I mean, is there a thought experiment that shows its ontological validity?
Could it concievably, based on the data that we have, be merely an epiphenomenon of syntax and semantics?
2
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2answers
140 views
What is the difference between item class and item instance?
I am working on a web site that has products information. Products, let's say consumer electronics, are represented by classes which describe different properties or groups of properties. Some classes ...
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1answer
105 views
The extended mind and the ontological status of visual hallucinations
Visual hallucinations present a unique problem for ontology. On the one hand they are clearly not sense data, meaning they are not the phenomenal product of a transduced pattern of photons. On the ...
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4answers
285 views
If ontology is the study of being, is there a name for the study of change?
I could be wrong, but it sounds like ontology is the study of what things exist. But I wonder what is the name for the study of what changes happen? The study of action, change, motion, etc.
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4answers
495 views
Can something be actually possible yet logically impossible?
By actual possibility I mean the possibility which is implied by ability or power.
By logical possibility I mean whether concepts of reality contradict each other or not.
I believe that knowledge ...
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1answer
189 views
What is Hofstadter's ontology for symbols?
I really liked GEB a few years ago, and have been following up with "I am a Strange Loop" recently. In the book, Douglas Hofstadter tries to better explain his concept of symbols and in particular the ...
