notebook/notes/ontology/philosophy/index.md

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Ontology Obsidian::H&SS ontology::philosophy
ontology

Overview

Ontology is the philosophical study of being. Generally things are split into two broad categories: abstract and concrete things. These words are "terms of art" and their definition is not standardized in any way.

%%ANKI Basic What did Quine declare as the ontological question? Back: "What is there?" Reference: Simon Hewitt, “A Cardinal Worry for Permissive Metaontology,” Metaphysica 16, no. 2 (September 18, 2015): 15965, https://doi.org/10.1515/mp-2015-0009.

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%%ANKI Basic Who is attributed the ontological question? Back: Willard Van Orman Quine. Reference: Simon Hewitt, “A Cardinal Worry for Permissive Metaontology,” Metaphysica 16, no. 2 (September 18, 2015): 15965, https://doi.org/10.1515/mp-2015-0009.

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%%ANKI Cloze {Ontology} is the {philosophical study of being}. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Cloze {Epistemology} is the {philosophical study of knowledge}. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Cloze {Taxonomy} is the {branch of science concerned with categorization}. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Cloze {Mereology} is the {philosophical study of part-whole relationships}. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic What does Effingham mean when saying "concreta" and "abstracta" are terms of art? Back: They are terms defined freely by a person to mean whatever one wants. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Cloze In general, ontologists often categorize things as either {concreta} or {abstracta}. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Generally speaking, what does someone probably mean by "concrete" things? Back: Things that exists in space and/or time. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Generally speaking, what does someone probably mean by "abstract" things? Back: Things that exist in neither space nor time. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Is a material object considered concreta? Back: Usually. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Is an immaterial object considered concreta? Back: Possibly. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Is a material object considered abstracta? Back: Not usually. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Is an immaterial object considered abstracta? Back: Possibly. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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Properties

A property is an entity that can be predicated of things or, in other words, attributed to them.

%%ANKI Basic What is a property? Back: An entity that can be predicated or attributed to things. Reference: Francesco Orilia and Michele Paolini Paoletti, “Properties,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2022 (Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2022), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/properties/.

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Instantiation

An entity is said to instantiate a property if said entity bears a connection to the property. For example, a human instantiates the property of being human and a man instantiates the properties of being human and being a man.

%%ANKI Basic What is instantiation? Back: A relation held between an entity and the properties that describe the entity. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Cloze A man is said to {instantiate} the property of being a man. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic What is self-instantiation? Back: The instantiation of a property by itself. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic What is non-self-instantiation? Back: The non-instantiation of a property by itself. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Suppose all properties are self-instantiating. What must be said about being honest? Back: The property being honest is honest. Reference: Francesco Orilia and Michele Paolini Paoletti, “Properties,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2022 (Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2022), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/properties/.

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%%ANKI Basic Suppose properties are abstracta. What self-instantiation is thus formed? Back: The property of abstractness is abstract. Reference: Francesco Orilia and Michele Paolini Paoletti, “Properties,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2022 (Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2022), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/properties/.

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%%ANKI Basic What is the paradox of non-self-instantiation? Back: The property non-self-instantiation is non-self-instantiating iff it is self-instantiating. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Let P be the property is non-self-instantiating. What happens if P is non-self-instantiating? Back: Then P must be self-instantiating. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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%%ANKI Basic Let P be the property is non-self-instantiating. What happens if P is self-instantiating? Back: Then P must be non-self-instantiating. Reference: Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

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Bibliography

  • Francesco Orilia and Michele Paolini Paoletti, “Properties,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2022 (Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2022), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/properties/.
  • Nikk Effingham, An Introduction to Ontology (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).
  • Simon Hewitt, “A Cardinal Worry for Permissive Metaontology,” Metaphysica 16, no. 2 (September 18, 2015): 15965, https://doi.org/10.1515/mp-2015-0009.