Abstract
The paper proposes a simple method for constructing ontological theories—an ‘ontology generator’. It shows that such a generator manages to produce major existing ontological theories, e.g., Realism, Nominalism, Trope theory, Bundle theory, Perdurantism, Endurantism, Possibilism, Actualism and more. It thus turns out, surprisingly, that all these seemingly unrelated different ontological theories that were designed by thinkers hundreds of years apart, can all be generated using the same simple mechanism. Moreover, this same generator manages to produce entirely novel ontological theories, that fare no worse than existing ones in meeting the same common metaphysical challenges.
References
Armstrong, David. 1978. Universals and Scientific Realism, I, II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Bergmann, G. 1967. Realism. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Search in Google Scholar
Campbell, K. 1990. Abstract Particulars. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.Search in Google Scholar
Effingham, N. 2020. “Mereological Nominalism.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 100 (1): 160–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12522.Search in Google Scholar
Geach, Peter T. 1966. “Some Problems about Time Proceedings of the British Academy.” Proceedings of the British Academy 60.Search in Google Scholar
Hawley, K. 2020. “Temporal Parts,” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by E. N. Zalta. Also available at https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/temporal-parts/.Search in Google Scholar
Heller, M. 1990. The Ontology of Physical Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Hume, David. 1739 [1975]. A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford: Clarendon Press.10.1093/oseo/instance.00046221Search in Google Scholar
Husserl, Edmund. 1900 [2001]. Logical Investigations. London & New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Jago, M. 2021. “Knowing How Things Might Have Been.” Synthese 198 (S8): S1981–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-1869-6.Search in Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1983. “New Work for a Theory of Universals.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 61: 343–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048408312341131.Search in Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1986. On the Plurality of Worlds. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Loux, M. J., and T. M. Crisp. 2017. Metaphysics. A Contemporary Introduction, 4th ed. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315637242Search in Google Scholar
Lowe, E. J. 2006. The Four-Category Ontology: A Metaphysical Foundation for Natural Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Maurin, A. 2018 “Tropes.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by E. N. Zalta. Also available at https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/tropes/.Search in Google Scholar
Mellor, D. H. 1981. Real Time. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Mertz, D. W. 1996. Moderate Realism and its Logic. New Haven, London: Yale University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Mulligan, K., P. Simons, and B. Smith. 1984. “Truth-Makers.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 44: 287–321. https://doi.org/10.2307/2107686.Search in Google Scholar
Paul, L. A. 2002. “Logical Parts.” Noûs 36 (4): 578–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0068.00402.Search in Google Scholar
Plantinga, A. 1976. “Actualism and Possible Worlds.” Theoria 42: 139–60. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-2567.1976.tb00681.x.Search in Google Scholar
Quine, W. V. 1954. “On what There Is.” In From a Logical Point of View. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Rodriguez-Pereyra, G. 2002. Resemblance Nominalism: A Solution to the Problem of Universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243778.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Russell, B. 1940. An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth. London: George Allen and Unwin; New York: W.W. Norton.Search in Google Scholar
Taylor, Richard. 1955. “Spatial and Temporal Analogues and the Concept of Identity.” Journal of Philosophy 52: 599–612.10.2307/2022168Search in Google Scholar
van Inwagen, P. 1990. “Four-Dimensional Objects.” Noûs 24: 245–55. https://doi.org/10.2307/2215526.Search in Google Scholar
Wallace, M. 2019. “The Lump Sum: A Theory of Modal Parts.” Philosophical Papers 48 (3): 403–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/05568641.2018.1562310.Search in Google Scholar
Wasserman, R. 2003. “The Argument from Temporary Intrinsics.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81: 413–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/713659708.Search in Google Scholar
Williams, D. C. 2018. The Elements and Patterns of Being, edited by A. Fisher. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780198810384.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Wolterstorff, N. 1973. On Universals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston