Author: Sam Cowling
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351970623
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 445
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Book Description
Think of a number, any number, or properties like fragility and humanity. These and other abstract entities are radically different from concrete entities like electrons and elbows. While concrete entities are located in space and time, have causes and effects, and are known through empirical means, abstract entities like meanings and possibilities are remarkably different. They seem to be immutable and imperceptible and to exist "outside" of space and time. This book provides a comprehensive critical assessment of the problems raised by abstract entities and the debates about existence, truth, and knowledge that surround them. It sets out the key issues that inform the metaphysical disagreement between platonists who accept abstract entities and nominalists who deny abstract entities exist. Beginning with the essentials of the platonist–nominalist debate, it explores the key arguments and issues informing the contemporary debate over abstract reality: arguments for platonism and their connections to semantics, science, and metaphysical explanation the abstract–concrete distinction and views about the nature of abstract reality epistemological puzzles surrounding our knowledge of mathematical entities and other abstract entities. arguments for nominalism premised upon concerns about paradox, parsimony, infinite regresses, underdetermination, and causal isolation nominalist options that seek to dispense with abstract entities. Including chapter summaries, annotated further reading, and a glossary, Abstract Entities is essential reading for anyone seeking a clear and authoritative introduction to the problems raised by abstract entities.
Author: Sam Cowling
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351970631
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 293
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Book Description
Abstract entities- Front Cover -- Abstract entities -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: The case for platonism -- 1.1 Platonism -- 1.2 Semantic arguments -- 1.3 Alethic arguments -- 1.4 Indispensability arguments -- 1.5 Metaphysical explanation -- Chapter 2: The abstract-concrete distinction -- 2.1 The standard view -- 2.2 Analyzing abstractness -- 2.3 Primitivism -- 2.4 Eliminativism -- Chapter 3: Paradox, parsimony, and infinite regresses -- 3.1 Paradox -- 3.2 Parsimony -- 3.3 Infinite regresses -- Chapter 4: Causal concerns -- 4.1 Epistemic access -- 4.2 Ensuring epistemic access -- 4.3 Semantic access -- 4.4 Cognitive access -- 4.5 Eleaticism -- Chapter 5: Non-uniqueness -- 5.1 The non-uniqueness problem -- 5.2 Living with non-uniqueness -- 5.3 Metaphysical underdetermination -- 5.4 Overcoming underdetermination -- Chapter 6: Modal objections -- 6.1 Necessary existents -- 6.2 Necessary connections -- 6.3 Contingent platonism -- 6.4 Abstracta and actuality -- Chapter 7: Nominalist options -- 7.1 Nominalisms -- 7.2 Meaning -- 7.3 Truth -- 7.4 Commitment -- 7.5 Harvard nominalism revisited -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- References -- Index
Author: Roger Teichmann
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349218634
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 181
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Book Description
Author: Nicholas Asher
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401117152
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 468
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Book Description
Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse presents a novel framework and analysis of the ways we refer to abstract objects in natural language discourse. The book begins with a typology of abstract objects and related entities like eventualities. After an introduction to `bottom up, compositional' discourse representation theory (DRT) and to previous work on abstract objects in DRT (notably work on the semantics of the attitudes), the book turns to a semantic analysis of eventuality and abstract object denoting nominals in English. The book then substantially revises and extends the dynamic semantic framework of DRT to develop an analysis of anaphoric reference to abstract objects and eventualities that exploits discourse structure and the discourse relations that obtain between elements of the structure. A dynamic, semantically based theory of discourse structure (SDRT) is proposed, along with many illustrative examples. Two further chapters then provide the analysis of anaphoric reference to propositions VP ellipsis. The abstract entity anaphoric antecedents are elements of the discourse structures that SDRT develops. The final chapter discusses some logical and philosophical difficulties for a semantic analysis of reference to abstract objects. For semanticists, philosophers of language, computer scientists interested in natural language applications and discourse, philosophical logicians, graduate students in linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science and artificial intelligence.
Author: Harry Alexander Beatty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Abstraction
Languages : en
Pages : 390
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Book Description
Author: Arkadiusz Chrudzimski
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110332841
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 381
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Book Description
The history of twentieth century philosophy is characterized by the gap between analytic and continental philosophy - even though both have their roots in a tradition referred to as "Austrian" or "Central-European" philosophy. The essays in this volume show in historical and systematic studies, how a reassessment of this "Central-European" tradition can build an interesting bridge between phenomenology and analytic philosophy and, thus, create a new foundation that allows for an original perspective on central problems of philosophy
Author: Giorgio Lando
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147258368X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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Book Description
Parthood and composition are everywhere. The leg of a table is part of the table, the word "Christmas" is part of the sentence "I wish you a merry Christmas", the 13th century is part of the Middle Ages. The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg compose Benelux, the body of a deer is composed of a huge number of cells, the Middle Ages are composed of the Early Middle Ages, High Middle Ages, and Late Middle Ages. Is there really a general theory covering every instance of parthood and composition? Is classical mereology this general theory? Are its seemingly counter-intuitive features serious defects? Mereology: A Philosophical Introduction addresses the multifaceted and lively philosophical debates surrounding these questions, and defends the idea that classical mereology is indeed the general and exhaustive theory of parthood and composition in the domain of concrete entities. Several examples of parthood and composition, involving entities of different kinds, are scrutinised in depth. Incidentally, mereology is shown to interact in a surprising way with metaontology. Presenting a well-organized and comprehensive discussion of parthood and related notions, Mereology: A Philosophical Introduction contributes to a better understanding of a subject central to contemporary metaphysics.
Author: Tyron Goldschmidt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198746970
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 314
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Book Description
Idealism is the view that reality is fundamentally mental. Idealism has been influential historically, but it has been neglected in contemporary metaphysical debate. This volume of 17 essays by leading philosophers rectifies the situation.
Author: Koraljka Golub
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000521192
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
Information and Knowledge Organisation explores the role of knowledge organisation in the digital humanities. By focusing on how information is described, represented and organised in both research and practice, this work furthers the transdisciplinary nature of digital humanities. Including contributions from Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the Middle East, the volume explores the potential uses of, and challenges involved in, applying the organisation of information and knowledge in the various areas of Digital Humanities. With a particular focus on the digital worlds of cultural heritage collections, the book also includes chapters that focus on machine learning, knowledge graphs, text analysis, text annotations and network analysis. Other topics covered include: semantic technologies, conceptual schemas and data augmentation, digital scholarly editing, metadata creation, browsing, visualisation and relevance ranking. Most importantly, perhaps, the book provides a starting point for discussions about the impact of information and knowledge organisation and related tools on the methodologies used in the Digital Humanities field. Information and Knowledge Organisation is intended for use by researchers, students and professionals interested in the role information and knowledge organisation plays in the Digital Humanities. It will be essential reading for those working in library and information science, computer science and across the humanities. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Author: David N. Stamos
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739107782
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 394
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Book Description
In this provocative work, David N. Stamos tackles the problem of determining exactly what a biological species is: in short, whether species are real and the nature of their reality. Although many have written on this topic, The Species Problem is the only comprehensive single-authored book on this central concern of biology. Stamos critically considers the evolution of the three major contemporary views of species: species nominalism, species as classes, and species as individuals. Finally, he develops his own solution to the species problem, a solution aimed at providing a universal species concept worthy of the Modern Synthesis. This book will be of interest to philosophers of biology and of science in general, to historians of biology, and to biologists concerned with one of the most significant (and practical) conceptual issues in their field.
