Metaphysics and Ontology Without Myths

Metaphysics and Ontology Without Myths

Author: Fabio Bacchini

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2014-10-02

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1443868272

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Metaphysics and ontology feature among the traditional and fundamental concerns of philosophers. Gaining a picture of the world and the kind of objects that exist out there is for most philosophers (past and present) a preliminary aim upon which other theoretical activities depend. In fact, it seems that sound conclusions on topics relevant to ethics, aesthetics, psychology, and common and scientific knowledge can be achieved only after one has been given a picture of that sort. What is worth stressing, though, is that from time to time the tribunal of history has managed to put its finger on some flawed conclusions. To take a time-worn example, who would now accept Plato’s claim that the spatiotemporal world is just an imperfect copy of a world of abstract objects conceived of as perfect unchanging models of concrete things? The picture Plato gave us is nothing but a myth – an account which is too far away from what common sense and science could accept, too detached from the usual ways of conducting a rational discussion. Therefore, pictures of this kind appear to be supported by nothing but dogmas, i.e. uncompromising principles taken as true without any previous critical analysis. And Plato has no shortage of company. Issues of this kind revolving around metaphysics and ontology are tackled in the essays in this volume, which approach a secular debate in fresh and original ways, providing the necessary tools for clearing the field of unpalatable metaphysical and ontological items.


Book Synopsis Metaphysics and Ontology Without Myths by : Fabio Bacchini

Download or read book Metaphysics and Ontology Without Myths written by Fabio Bacchini and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-02 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Metaphysics and ontology feature among the traditional and fundamental concerns of philosophers. Gaining a picture of the world and the kind of objects that exist out there is for most philosophers (past and present) a preliminary aim upon which other theoretical activities depend. In fact, it seems that sound conclusions on topics relevant to ethics, aesthetics, psychology, and common and scientific knowledge can be achieved only after one has been given a picture of that sort. What is worth stressing, though, is that from time to time the tribunal of history has managed to put its finger on some flawed conclusions. To take a time-worn example, who would now accept Plato’s claim that the spatiotemporal world is just an imperfect copy of a world of abstract objects conceived of as perfect unchanging models of concrete things? The picture Plato gave us is nothing but a myth – an account which is too far away from what common sense and science could accept, too detached from the usual ways of conducting a rational discussion. Therefore, pictures of this kind appear to be supported by nothing but dogmas, i.e. uncompromising principles taken as true without any previous critical analysis. And Plato has no shortage of company. Issues of this kind revolving around metaphysics and ontology are tackled in the essays in this volume, which approach a secular debate in fresh and original ways, providing the necessary tools for clearing the field of unpalatable metaphysical and ontological items.

Metaphysical Myths, Mathematical Practice

Metaphysical Myths, Mathematical Practice

Author: Jody Azzouni

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1994-02-25

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 0521442230

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This original and exciting study offers a completely new perspective on the philosophy of mathematics. Most philosophers of mathematics try to show either that the sort of knowledge mathematicians have is similar to the sort of knowledge specialists in the empirical sciences have or that the kind of knowledge mathematicians have, although apparently about objects such as numbers, sets, and so on, isn't really about those sorts of things at all. Jody Azzouni argues that mathematical knowledge is a special kind of knowledge that must be gathered in its own unique way. He analyzes the linguistic pitfalls and misperceptions philosophers in this field are often prone to, and explores the misapplications of epistemic principles from the empirical sciences to the exact sciences. What emerges is a picture of mathematics sensitive both to mathematical practice and to the ontological and epistemological issues that concern philosophers. The book will be of special interest to philosophers of science, mathematics, logic, and language. It should also interest mathematicians themselves.


Book Synopsis Metaphysical Myths, Mathematical Practice by : Jody Azzouni

Download or read book Metaphysical Myths, Mathematical Practice written by Jody Azzouni and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-02-25 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This original and exciting study offers a completely new perspective on the philosophy of mathematics. Most philosophers of mathematics try to show either that the sort of knowledge mathematicians have is similar to the sort of knowledge specialists in the empirical sciences have or that the kind of knowledge mathematicians have, although apparently about objects such as numbers, sets, and so on, isn't really about those sorts of things at all. Jody Azzouni argues that mathematical knowledge is a special kind of knowledge that must be gathered in its own unique way. He analyzes the linguistic pitfalls and misperceptions philosophers in this field are often prone to, and explores the misapplications of epistemic principles from the empirical sciences to the exact sciences. What emerges is a picture of mathematics sensitive both to mathematical practice and to the ontological and epistemological issues that concern philosophers. The book will be of special interest to philosophers of science, mathematics, logic, and language. It should also interest mathematicians themselves.

Ontology Without Borders

Ontology Without Borders

Author: Jody Azzouni

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0190622555

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A new approach to the metaphysics, background logic, and semantics of ontological debate, Ontology Without Borders offers new solutions to perennial philosophical puzzles about constitution and the nonexistent. Book jacket.


Book Synopsis Ontology Without Borders by : Jody Azzouni

Download or read book Ontology Without Borders written by Jody Azzouni and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new approach to the metaphysics, background logic, and semantics of ontological debate, Ontology Without Borders offers new solutions to perennial philosophical puzzles about constitution and the nonexistent. Book jacket.

Myths of the Self

Myths of the Self

Author: Olav Bryant Smith

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 9780739108437

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According to Olav Bryant Smith, Kant's "critical philosophy," precisely his defense of necessary knowledge, inadvertantly opened the door to discussions of interpretive philosophy and ultimately postmodernity. This unique opening to a discussion of postmodern thought framesMyths of the Self: Narrative Identity and Postmodern Metaphysics. Author Olav Smith uses process philosophy, specifically the constructive postmodern metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead, to move away from the skepticism of modernity. This maneuver, along with an invigorating discussion of not often paired philosophers: Kant, Heidegger, Whitehead, and Ricoeur, leads readers into a discussion of the self that is a synthesis of a narrative theory of identity and a constructive "postmodern" metaphysics. Smith's original approach to Kant'sCritique of Reason, his unique pairing of Heidegger and Whitehead as well as Whitehead and Ricoeur makes this book essential reading for philisophers working in the Continental and especially the Analytic American tradition.


Book Synopsis Myths of the Self by : Olav Bryant Smith

Download or read book Myths of the Self written by Olav Bryant Smith and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to Olav Bryant Smith, Kant's "critical philosophy," precisely his defense of necessary knowledge, inadvertantly opened the door to discussions of interpretive philosophy and ultimately postmodernity. This unique opening to a discussion of postmodern thought framesMyths of the Self: Narrative Identity and Postmodern Metaphysics. Author Olav Smith uses process philosophy, specifically the constructive postmodern metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead, to move away from the skepticism of modernity. This maneuver, along with an invigorating discussion of not often paired philosophers: Kant, Heidegger, Whitehead, and Ricoeur, leads readers into a discussion of the self that is a synthesis of a narrative theory of identity and a constructive "postmodern" metaphysics. Smith's original approach to Kant'sCritique of Reason, his unique pairing of Heidegger and Whitehead as well as Whitehead and Ricoeur makes this book essential reading for philisophers working in the Continental and especially the Analytic American tradition.

Myth and Metaphysics

Myth and Metaphysics

Author: W.A. Luijpen

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 9401013578

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This book is an attempt to interpret man's religious existence, an inter pretation for which some of the groundwork was laid by the author's book PHENOMENOLOGY AND ATHEISM (Duquesne University Press, 2nd impression, 1965). That work explored the "denial" of God by the leading atheists and came to terms with the most typical forms assumed by their "denials". Nevertheless, I am not an adherent of atheism. The reason why it is possible to agree with many "atheists" without becoming one of them is that man can misunderstand his own religiousness or lapse into an inauthentic form of being a believer. What many "atheists" unmask is one or the other form of pseudo-religiousness which should be unmasked. On the other hand, I have also constantly refused to identify religiousness with such inauthentic forms and to define it in terms of those forms - just as I refuse to identify the appendix with appendicitis, the heart with an infarct, the psyche as a disturbance, and marriage as a fight. The book offered here has been written since the rise of the radical "God is dead" theology. This "theology" without God has often been presented as the only form of theological thought still suitable for "modern man". As the reader will notice, I reject the brash facility with which some "modern men" measure the relevance of "anything" by its "modernity".


Book Synopsis Myth and Metaphysics by : W.A. Luijpen

Download or read book Myth and Metaphysics written by W.A. Luijpen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an attempt to interpret man's religious existence, an inter pretation for which some of the groundwork was laid by the author's book PHENOMENOLOGY AND ATHEISM (Duquesne University Press, 2nd impression, 1965). That work explored the "denial" of God by the leading atheists and came to terms with the most typical forms assumed by their "denials". Nevertheless, I am not an adherent of atheism. The reason why it is possible to agree with many "atheists" without becoming one of them is that man can misunderstand his own religiousness or lapse into an inauthentic form of being a believer. What many "atheists" unmask is one or the other form of pseudo-religiousness which should be unmasked. On the other hand, I have also constantly refused to identify religiousness with such inauthentic forms and to define it in terms of those forms - just as I refuse to identify the appendix with appendicitis, the heart with an infarct, the psyche as a disturbance, and marriage as a fight. The book offered here has been written since the rise of the radical "God is dead" theology. This "theology" without God has often been presented as the only form of theological thought still suitable for "modern man". As the reader will notice, I reject the brash facility with which some "modern men" measure the relevance of "anything" by its "modernity".

Metaphysics or Ontology?

Metaphysics or Ontology?

Author: Piotr Jaroszyński

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-02-12

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 9004359877

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This volume treats the evolution of the object of metaphysics from being to the concept of being to, finally, the object. It examines metaphysics and ontology, and the history of these terms. It is relevant to scholars and philosophers.


Book Synopsis Metaphysics or Ontology? by : Piotr Jaroszyński

Download or read book Metaphysics or Ontology? written by Piotr Jaroszyński and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-02-12 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume treats the evolution of the object of metaphysics from being to the concept of being to, finally, the object. It examines metaphysics and ontology, and the history of these terms. It is relevant to scholars and philosophers.

Ontology

Ontology

Author: Peter Coffey

Publisher:

Published: 1914

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Ontology by : Peter Coffey

Download or read book Ontology written by Peter Coffey and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Fundamentals of Ontological Commitment

Fundamentals of Ontological Commitment

Author: Paolo Valore

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-01-15

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 3110459035

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Scientific literature on particular themes in ontology is extremely abundant, but it is often very hard for freshmen or sophomores to find a red thread between the various proposals. This text is an opinionated introduction, a preliminary text to research in ontology from the so called standard approach to ontological commitment, that is from the particular point of view that connects ontological questions to quantificational questions. It offers a survey of this viewpoint in ontology together with their possible applications through a broad array of examples and open problems and, at the same time, essential references to the classics of philosophy, so as to allow non-specialists to understand the terms and analysis procedures characterizing the discipline. Its result is a wide-ranging overview of the issued tackled by ontology, with a particular focus on the most relevant problems of contemporary debate (categorial taxonomies, nonexistent objects, case studies of ontological debates in specific fields of knowledge).


Book Synopsis Fundamentals of Ontological Commitment by : Paolo Valore

Download or read book Fundamentals of Ontological Commitment written by Paolo Valore and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-01-15 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific literature on particular themes in ontology is extremely abundant, but it is often very hard for freshmen or sophomores to find a red thread between the various proposals. This text is an opinionated introduction, a preliminary text to research in ontology from the so called standard approach to ontological commitment, that is from the particular point of view that connects ontological questions to quantificational questions. It offers a survey of this viewpoint in ontology together with their possible applications through a broad array of examples and open problems and, at the same time, essential references to the classics of philosophy, so as to allow non-specialists to understand the terms and analysis procedures characterizing the discipline. Its result is a wide-ranging overview of the issued tackled by ontology, with a particular focus on the most relevant problems of contemporary debate (categorial taxonomies, nonexistent objects, case studies of ontological debates in specific fields of knowledge).

Ontology; Or, the Theory of Being; an Introduction to General Metaphysics

Ontology; Or, the Theory of Being; an Introduction to General Metaphysics

Author: Peter Coffey

Publisher: Theclassics.Us

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9781230358642

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ...(6vaia, ens in se subsistens), but which is also a support or subject of accidents (JyiroKeifievov, substans, substare) Nor, indeed, need the child's reason be very highly developed in order to realize that if experience furnishes it with "beings that do not exist in themselves," there must also be beings which do exist in themselves: that if " accidents" exist at all it would be unintelligible and self-contradictory to deny the existence of "substances ." Hence, in the order of our experience the first, implicit notion of substance is that of " something existing in itself" (pvaia); the first explicit notion of it, however, is that by which it is apprehended as "a subject or support of accidents" (rrroKeijjievov, sub-stare, substantial; then by reflection we go back to the explicit notion of it as " something existing in itself." In the real or ontological order the perfection of "existing in itself" is manifestly more fundamental than that of "supporting accidents." It is in accordance with a natural law of language that we name things after the properties whereby they reveal themselves to us, rather than by names implying what is more fundamental and essential in them. "To exist in itself" is an absolute perfection, essential to substance; "to support accidents " is only a relative perfection; nor can we know a priori but a substance might perhaps exist without any accidents: we only know that accidents 1 Cf. Mercier, op. at., % 142 (p. 272). 1 Cf. Kleutghn, op. cit., Dissert, vi., ch. iii., ii, 592. cannot exist without some substance, or subject, or power which will sustain them in existence. Can substance be apprehended by the...


Book Synopsis Ontology; Or, the Theory of Being; an Introduction to General Metaphysics by : Peter Coffey

Download or read book Ontology; Or, the Theory of Being; an Introduction to General Metaphysics written by Peter Coffey and published by Theclassics.Us. This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ...(6vaia, ens in se subsistens), but which is also a support or subject of accidents (JyiroKeifievov, substans, substare) Nor, indeed, need the child's reason be very highly developed in order to realize that if experience furnishes it with "beings that do not exist in themselves," there must also be beings which do exist in themselves: that if " accidents" exist at all it would be unintelligible and self-contradictory to deny the existence of "substances ." Hence, in the order of our experience the first, implicit notion of substance is that of " something existing in itself" (pvaia); the first explicit notion of it, however, is that by which it is apprehended as "a subject or support of accidents" (rrroKeijjievov, sub-stare, substantial; then by reflection we go back to the explicit notion of it as " something existing in itself." In the real or ontological order the perfection of "existing in itself" is manifestly more fundamental than that of "supporting accidents." It is in accordance with a natural law of language that we name things after the properties whereby they reveal themselves to us, rather than by names implying what is more fundamental and essential in them. "To exist in itself" is an absolute perfection, essential to substance; "to support accidents " is only a relative perfection; nor can we know a priori but a substance might perhaps exist without any accidents: we only know that accidents 1 Cf. Mercier, op. at., % 142 (p. 272). 1 Cf. Kleutghn, op. cit., Dissert, vi., ch. iii., ii, 592. cannot exist without some substance, or subject, or power which will sustain them in existence. Can substance be apprehended by the...

Natural Processes

Natural Processes

Author: Andrew M. Winters

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-09-20

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 3319675702

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In thinking about ontology as the study of being or what fundamentally exists, we can adopt an ontology that either takes substances or processes as primary. There are, however, both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for not fully adopting a substance ontology, which indicate that we ought to suspend judgment with respect to the acceptance of a substance ontology. Doing so allows room to further explore other ontologies. In this book, Andrew M. Winters argues that there are both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for further pursuing a process ontology. Adopting a process ontology allows us to overcome many of the difficulties facing a substance ontology while also accommodating many of the phenomenon that substance ontologies were appealed to for explanation. Given these reasons, we have both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for pursuing and developing a metaphysics without substance.


Book Synopsis Natural Processes by : Andrew M. Winters

Download or read book Natural Processes written by Andrew M. Winters and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-09-20 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In thinking about ontology as the study of being or what fundamentally exists, we can adopt an ontology that either takes substances or processes as primary. There are, however, both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for not fully adopting a substance ontology, which indicate that we ought to suspend judgment with respect to the acceptance of a substance ontology. Doing so allows room to further explore other ontologies. In this book, Andrew M. Winters argues that there are both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for further pursuing a process ontology. Adopting a process ontology allows us to overcome many of the difficulties facing a substance ontology while also accommodating many of the phenomenon that substance ontologies were appealed to for explanation. Given these reasons, we have both commonsense and naturalistic reasons for pursuing and developing a metaphysics without substance.