Ontological anti-realism
In David John Chalmers, David Manley & Ryan Wasserman (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford University Press (2009)
| Abstract | The basic question of ontology is “What exists?”. The basic question of metaontology is: are there objective answers to the basic question of ontology? Here ontological realists say yes, and ontological anti-realists say no. (Compare: The basic question of ethics is “What is right?”. The basic question of metaethics is: are there objective answers to the basic question of ethics? Here moral realists say yes, and moral anti-realists say no.) For example, the ontologist may ask: Do numbers exist? The Platonist says yes, and the nominalist says no. The metaontologist may ask: is there an objective fact of the matter about whether numbers exist? The ontological realist says yes, and the ontological anti-realist says no. Likewise, the ontologist may ask: Given two distinct entities, when does a mereological sum of those entities exist? The universalist says always, while the nihilist says never. The metaontologist may ask: is there an objective fact of the matter about whether the mereological sum of two distinct entities exists? The ontological realist says yes, and the ontological anti-realist says no. Ontological realism is often traced to Quine (1948), who held that we can determine what exists by seeing which entities are endorsed by our best scientific theory of the world. In recent years, the practice of ontology has often presupposed an ever-stronger ontological realism, and strong versions of ontological realism have received explicit statements by Fine (this volume), Sider (2001; this volume), van Inwagen (1998; this volume), and others | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJoseph Rouse (1988). Arguing for the Natural Ontological Attitude. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1988:294 - 301.
Nurbay Irmak (forthcoming). The Privilege of the Physical and the Status of Ontological Debates. Philosophical Studies.
Hasok Chang (2001). How to Take Realism Beyond Foot-Stamping. Philosophy 76 (1):5-30.
Jan Westerhoff (2002). Defining 'Ontological Category'. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 102 (3):287–293.
Vera Hoffmann (2006). Can Heil's Ontological Conception Accommodate Complex Properties? In Michael Esfeld (ed.), John Heil. Symposium on his Ontological Point of View. ontos verlag.
Michael Scott (2000). Framing the Realism Question. Religious Studies 36 (4):455-471.
Robert T. Lehe (1998). Realism and Reality. Journal of Philosophical Research 23:219-237.
Peter Van Inwagen (1998). Meta-Ontology. Erkenntnis 48 (2/3):233 - 250.
Jesse M. Mulder (2012). What Generates the Realism/Anti-Realism Dichotomy? Philosophica 84 (1):53-84.
Sophie R. Allen (2004). Disorder at the Border. Philo 7 (2):176-202.
Antti Keskinen (2012). Quine on Objects: Realism or Anti-Realism? Theoria 78 (2):128-145.
Ernest Sosa (2003). "Ontological and Conceptual Relativity and the Self". In Michael J. Loux & Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics. Oxford University Press.
Roy T. Cook (forthcoming). Should Anti-Realists Be Anti-Realists About Anti-Realism? Erkenntnis:1-26.
Katharina Felka (forthcoming). Number Words and Reference to Numbers. Philosophical Studies:1-22.
Rupert Read (2002). Is ‘What is Time?’ A Good Question to Ask? Philosophy 77 (2):193-210.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-10-22Total downloads169 ( #1,938 of 549,122 )Recent downloads (6 months)11 ( #6,081 of 549,122 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
