Ontological realism

In David Chalmers, David Manley & Ryan Wasserman (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford University Press. pp. 384--423 (2009)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In , Peter van Inwagen asked a good question. (Asking the right question is often the hardest part.) He asked: what do you have to do to some objects to get them to compose something---to bring into existence some further thing made up of those objects? Glue them together or what?1 Some said that you don’t have to do anything.2 No matter what you do to the objects, they’ll always compose something further, no matter how they are arranged. Thus we learned of the fusion of the coins in our pockets and the Eiffel tower.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 86,336

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Ontological anti-realism.David J. Chalmers - 2009 - In David Chalmers, David Manley & Ryan Wasserman (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford University Press.
Do Objects Depend on Structures?Johanna Wolff - 2012 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 63 (3):607-625.
Realism and Reality.Robert T. Lehe - 1998 - Journal of Philosophical Research 23:219-237.
Thing and object.Kristie Miller - 2008 - Acta Analytica 23 (1):69-89.
Framing the realism question.Michael Scott - 2000 - Religious Studies 36 (4):455-471.
McGrath on universalism.Michael C. Rea - 1999 - Analysis 59 (3):200–203.
Van Inwagen and the Possibility of Gunk.Theodore Sider - 1993 - Analysis 53 (4):285 - 289.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
534 (#26,026)

6 months
26 (#87,031)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Theodore Sider
Rutgers University - New Brunswick

Citations of this work

Verbal Disputes.David J. Chalmers - 2011 - Philosophical Review 120 (4):515-566.
The question of ontology.Kit Fine - 2009 - In David Chalmers, David Manley & Ryan Wasserman (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford University Press. pp. 157--177.
A Theory of Metaphysical Indeterminacy.Elizabeth Barnes & J. Robert G. Williams - 2011 - In Karen Bennett & Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), Oxford Studies in Metaphysics volume 6. Oxford University Press. pp. 103-148.
Relativism.Maria Baghramian & Adam J. Carter - 2020 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

View all 197 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Philosophical Investigations.Ludwig Wittgenstein - 1953 - New York, NY, USA: Wiley-Blackwell.
New work for a theory of universals.David K. Lewis - 1983 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 61 (4):343-377.
Philosophical investigations.Ludwig Wittgenstein & G. E. M. Anscombe - 1953 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 161:124-124.

View all 47 references / Add more references