Questions tagged [ontology]
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.
126
questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
5
votes
1
answer
92
views
Does Kant implicitly commit the paralogism of pure reason when saying that to have a representation it is necessary to accompany it with 'I think'?
In Caygill's Kant Dictionary entry of 'I Think' there is this part:
Kant further claims that 'I think' is the necessary vehicle/form/accompaniment of experience: to have a representation it is ...
- 583
5
votes
0
answers
3k
views
How does one differentiate epistemological and ontological claims?
I'm taking an introductory philosophy course and I find it fascinating. I can't really figure out an assignment though because I'm a bit foggy on what the difference between ontological and ...
- 51
5
votes
3
answers
191
views
What is the difference between a " particular" and an " individual being "? (Ontology)
The standard ontological classification distinguishes:
(1) particulars and universals
(2) concrete and abstract entities.
I'm wondering what place to attribute to " individuals" in this ...
user37859
3
votes
2
answers
115
views
Regarding objects being concrete and properties being abstract
For those who believe that objects are concrete things and properties are abstract things, what do you make of sensory properties?
Our brains perceive sensory qualities first and build (concepts of) &...
- 360
3
votes
0
answers
77
views
How does Hegel's Ontology overcome issues in Spinoza's?
I'm trying to write a paper and I've tried to reconstruct an argument about this on my own with no luck so far. It's about Hegel's criticism of Spinoza.
As far as I understand, Hegel's main critique ...
- 131
3
votes
2
answers
174
views
Is Heidegger's "Being" a class template or a random variable taking realizations?
I have a fairly strong background in math and programming as it is my daily work. I have recently started getting interested in philosophy and often has the habit of drawing analogy between ...
- 131
3
votes
0
answers
90
views
What is the ontological status of Plato's Demiurge?
I've done some searching and have found that he (it?) is the anthropomorphization of the deliberate Intellect's intent (SEP: Plato's Timaeus). I understand that he is neither an idea nor an idea's ...
3
votes
2
answers
460
views
What precedents are there for the triple-ism of Roger Penrose?
In his The Road to Reality, Roger Penrose espouses three distinct realities - the physical, mental and mathematical.
The physical and mental are basically good old dualism, although he is an atheist ...
- 2,522
3
votes
0
answers
46
views
To what extent is the notion of "common" of philosophical interest?
The 2021 theme for a french competitive philosophical exam is: "the common". I'm not sure the expression really makes sense in English. In French, it is the adjective "commun" ( ...
- 852
3
votes
0
answers
246
views
Duns Scotus : how can the " concept of being" be univocal without there being a nature common to God and to creatures?
Source : Paul Vincent Spade, Survey Of Medieval Philoosphy (https://pvspade.com/Logic/index.html)
Dunst Scotus is said to hold the thesis of univocity of being: i.e. the thesis according to which the ...
user37859
3
votes
0
answers
80
views
What happened to ( aristotelian) substantial forms in cartesian ontology? On which ground ( metaphysical or physical) are they rejected?
In aristotelian philosophy, there are no bare particulars ( contrary to what is the case in Plato, according to P.V. Spade) but internally structured ( substantial) particulars in which 2 "parts"/...
user37859
3
votes
0
answers
280
views
Has Alexandre Grothendieck ever expounded a particular stance on metaphysics or ontology?
It seems that in Recoltes et Semailles, he does go into quite a bit of philosophizing. the only thing of relevance I've found is that he notes how Riemann "in passing" said how he thought perhaps the "...
- 71
3
votes
0
answers
93
views
Understanding 'existence' and 'being' in debates about ordinary objects
Quine has brought forward his definition of existence: 'To be is to be the value of a bound variable.' But has also taught us that the sciences ultimately determine what actually exists contrary to ...
- 31
3
votes
0
answers
361
views
Difference between Carnap and Quine's views
Could someone explain to me, in easy language, what the main differences are between Carnap and Quine's views regarding internal / external questions and realism? Quine called Carnap a Platoist, yet I ...
- 143
3
votes
0
answers
161
views
Is Simondon's ontogenesis compatible with Badiou's ontology?
Is Simondon's ontogenesis compatible with Badiou's ontology?
Simondon's belief is that an individual can only be understood as an individuation, presupposing a pre-individual metastable reality, ...
- 131
2
votes
1
answer
138
views
How is asymmetry of metaphor an important part of object-oriented ontology?
I am reading Graham Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything. I'm finding it interesting and a lot of the ideas resonate, although I'm quite sure I don't completely understand it.
...
- 178
2
votes
0
answers
89
views
Do things correspond to carvings of reality?
I have found many papers about “carving reality at its joints” but all of them discussed carving reality into kinds, supposed to cluster things, themselves always considered as already given. Though I ...
- 51
2
votes
0
answers
76
views
Markus Gabriel's ontology and the non-existence of the world
Markus Gabriel proposes a permissive ontology ("New Realism") according to, if there exists a certain "field of sense" in which an entity appears, the entity exists. Even fictional ...
- 4,570
2
votes
0
answers
68
views
Positive vs negative classes in ontology
I am interested in the nature of ontological classification and whether there exists some form of accepted terminology to distinguish classes that are 'positive' (matching characteristics) and classes ...
- 141
2
votes
1
answer
99
views
Physical vs abstract collections
In mathematics we deal with 'sets' they are abstract as the objects in them are abstract, they have no tempo-spatial location. How about standard 'collections' we would encounter in real life, if I ...
- 1,073
2
votes
4
answers
177
views
What is an object's properties?
What can we consider an object's properties, for example, when can we consider an object's properties as 'changing'? For example, if I move an object from my desk to my table, has it changed? If I ...
- 1,073
2
votes
0
answers
117
views
Brute facts and the burden of proof
I'm trying my best to understand Della Rocca's article "PSR", which I believe convincingly shows that that one cannot reasonably hold that some facts are brute while others are not without a ...
- 377
2
votes
0
answers
72
views
Motivations for ontological pluralism – suggested reading?
I’m looking for suggested reading on ontological pluralism.
There are so many contested entities (?) like numbers, holes, the poems of Lord Byron, universals, various types of non-existent objects (...
- 4,570
2
votes
0
answers
271
views
What does Quine's ontological method of paraphrasing achieve?
W. V. O. Quine in "On What There Is?" denies the existence of universals. There are red things, like a fire truck (f), a tomato (t), a red umbrella (u). But the phrase "They have ...
- 4,570
2
votes
5
answers
321
views
Is there a philosophical assessment of the terms "virtual" and "imaginary"?
In casual terms, at least from explanations I can find,
imaginary is something which "does not exist" in reality: "an imaginary world"
virtual is something which "exists ...
- 223
2
votes
0
answers
135
views
Why are concepts without intuitions blind?
I think at this point I understand all the transcendental arguments of CPR except this one - and probably this could considerably change my understanding of Kant as a whole.
Here is my confusion.
...
- 413
2
votes
2
answers
340
views
Relationism, Substantivalism, and Simultaneity?
I've been breaking my head open lately over special relativity and its conception of spacetime's dynamical as well as kinematical features. One thing that has stuck in my head is that of whether the ...
2
votes
0
answers
40
views
Perdurantism applied to non-physical objects
I have recently been reading up a lot on perdurantism aka four dimensionalism including papers by Rea, Sider, Bittner and Donnelly among others and I was interested in knowing whether there was any ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
122
views
Is there a logical argument for the limit of knowledge?
It is justifiable to assert that certain knowledge could not be disseminated without the invention of writing. One could say that humanity needed the knowledge of writing before further knowledge ...
- 2,387
2
votes
0
answers
51
views
Looking for references regarding the history of metaphysics, and specially of ontology
Although many histories of ethics, of esthetics or of logic are available, it seems more difficult to find histories regarding other domains of philosophy. This is the case for epistemology and for ...
user37859
2
votes
0
answers
63
views
Grounding without fundamental relations
Philosophers from Leibniz to John Heil have proposed the reduction/elimination of relations to non-relational features of their relata; essentially, they seek to formulate an ontology which does not ...
2
votes
0
answers
84
views
Can an eternalist think that pastness and futureness are properties?
I take an eternalist to be someone who believes there are no past/future things, it all exists "at once". I understand the position as it applies to concrete objects, but I am not so clear on what the ...
- 243
2
votes
0
answers
293
views
Russell on Negative Facts
Okay. I am reading Russell's paper "On Propositions: What They are and How They Mean". Since the truth or falsehood of a belief depends upon a fact to which the belief "refers", and propositions are ...
- 633
2
votes
0
answers
62
views
What was Putnam's position re truth and/or word/world relationship at the time of his death.
The formidable philosopher of science and mathematics, Hillary Putnam, died last year, at 89, shortly [relatively] after his retirement. His was an intellectually peripatetic career. Though he ...
- 1,875
2
votes
0
answers
76
views
Just what is it that makes todays theoretical posits so different, so appealing?
... from those of yester-years, or yester-millenias?
Westerhoff, writes in his transaltion of the Nagarjunas Madhyamakarika (Verses on the Middle Way) that:
The idea of fire-atoms as ultimately real ...
2
votes
0
answers
447
views
Blue Plane vs Pink Plane - existing philosophical category?
In The Act of Creation (Arkana) 1964, Arkana Reissue Edition, Paperback, ISBN 0140191917 by Arthur Koestler he sets up a Contrast between the Pink Plane and the Blue Plane.
In it he describes the ...
- 423
2
votes
1
answer
305
views
How to start Philosophy and find the branches that are related to my questions?
From Wikipedia:
Ontology: philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations.
Epistemology: study of the nature ...
- 131
1
vote
0
answers
32
views
Can we evaluate life, existence and/or consciousness itself according to criteria that exist within it?
The idea of a criteria, of evaluation, of meaning, of assigning characteristics, of judging things as positive or negative or neutral, only exists as a subset of existence as far as I can tell. In ...
- 169
1
vote
0
answers
83
views
Does existence consist of two categories?
The two categories I wish to describe is:
Eternal existence being uncaused and having always been
Short term existences such as human consciousness or other types which are destructible from their ...
- 29
1
vote
0
answers
62
views
Under what conditions can we say that two things are ontological distinct?
I am curious as to under what conditions we say that two things are ontologically distinct. My hunch is that we say two things are ontologically distinct if they differ in their essential properties. ...
- 676
1
vote
0
answers
23
views
Does super-essentiality preclude compatibility with Anaxagoras?
On the one hand, God as superessential implies:
Part of God's divine nature is to be found in humans, and indeed all things
This seems to be consonant with the view of the cosmos held by Anaxagoras: ...
- 237
1
vote
3
answers
138
views
How can universal truths lead to particular truths?
Disclaimer: I have not read philosophy outside of limited Greek works
So, Plato theorized that there was a world of "universals" and "particulars", the world of general principles (...
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
31
views
HEIDEGGER SCHOLARS NOMENCLATURE PUZZLING
Heideggerian scholars keep utilizing the phrase "background practices" as a substitute or equivalent for being.
Background practices are things like instinctive social behavior that is ...
- 19
1
vote
0
answers
80
views
What did Kant have to say about atomism?
I've been trying to understand whether on not Kant accepts the atomic model (that matter is composed of smallest pieces) based on his writings in Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science.
- 111
1
vote
0
answers
97
views
Is 'a level of quantity' a poor definition of 'real number'?
I was thinking about how we define numbers with respect to their uses, and came up with the definition of 'a level of quantity' which can have a different physical consequence for each quantity ...
- 1,073
1
vote
0
answers
151
views
Normative philosophy vs descriptive philosophy
I am making the question in simple terms to avoid logical ambiguity.
IS normative philosophy(what should be) a subset of descriptive philosophy (What is) ?
Is morality/ethics beauty/happiness is also ...
- 1,157
1
vote
0
answers
33
views
Are theories about the universe or ontological realities that cannot be yet proven considered to be metaphysics theory?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Metaphysical_theories
Are theories about the universe or ontological realities that cannot be yet proven considered to be metaphysics theory?
I was wondering why ...
- 3,787
1
vote
0
answers
72
views
Spinoza: what would be a concrete example of a thing that "is in" another thing
Spinoza talks about substance and its modifications. Since God is the only substance, it follows that everything else that exists is modifications of modifications of modifications ... etc.
As I ...
- 261
1
vote
0
answers
168
views
How to correctly understand the positions of ontological nihilism?
Lately I have been investigating ontological nihilism. However, different sources give completely different definitions of this philosophical position, which I have divided into two main groups.
The ...
- 129
1
vote
0
answers
53
views
What is Plotinus' theory (of graduationism) that inspired Augustine about?
I want to know what Plotinus' gradualism is exactly about. I've heard in a lecture about Augustine being inspired by that theory, but can't seem to find anything about this. Is this gradualism just ...