Quantification and non-existent objects
| Abstract | Whether or not there are non-existent objects seems to be one of the more mysterious and speculative issues in ontology.1 To affirm that there are non-existent objects is to affirm that reality consists of two kinds of things, the existing and the non-existing. The existing contains all of what is in our space-time world, plus all abstract objects, if there are any. Most people, it seems fair to say, would think that this is all there is. For them the only real question in ontology can be what kinds of existing things there are. However, followers of Meinong maintain that this isn’t all there is. There is also another kind of things, those that do not exist. And to say this, the Meinongians continue, is to accept that reality is divided into two basic kinds of things, the existing and the non-existing. Whether or not reality contains two basic categories of things, existing and non-existing, or only one, existing, is what the debate about non-existent objects is all about. And as such it seems to be the most speculative of the debates in ontology. How could we human beings possibly decide it? One might think that to find out whether or not there are abstract objects is hard to decide, since they are not in space and time, causally inaccessible, unobservable, etc.. But whatever difficulty there might be to answer the question whether or not there are abstract objects, it has to be even harder to decide whether or not there are non-existent objects. Abstract objects, if there are any, at least.. | |||||||||
| 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: 5,679 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Only published papers are available at libraries |
Similar books and articlesB. Smith & D. M. Mark (1998). Ontology and Geographic Kinds. In T. Poiker & N. Chrisman (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling, 308–320. International Geographic Union.
Gordon Knight (2001). Idealism, Intentionality, and Nonexistent Objects. Journal of Philosophical Research 26:43-52.
Erich Rast (2010). Classical Possibilism and Fictional Objects. In Franck Lihoreau (ed.), Fiction in Philosophy.
Reina Hayaki (2006). Contingent Objects and the Barcan Formula. Erkenntnis 64 (1):75 - 83.
David E. W. Fenner (2006). Environmental Aesthetics and the Dynamic Object. Ethics and the Environment 11 (1):1-19.
Rudolf Haller (1983). Friedlands Sterne Oder Facta Und Ficta. Erkenntnis 19 (1-3):153 - 165.
Kristie Miller (2008). Thing and Object. Acta Analytica 23 (1):69-89.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-03-19Total downloads85 ( #8,674 of 549,080 )Recent downloads (6 months)8 ( #8,860 of 549,080 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
