Ontology (philosophy)

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In philosophy the field of ontology considers what things exist, and what existence implies.[1] Quine has called the question ‘What is there?’ "the ontological question".[2]

For some philosophers, called 'deflationist', this question is linguistic, that is, it concerns the usage of expressions like 'At least one such-and-such exists'.[3] Such phrases are called quantifier expressions.[4]

For other philosophers, ontology concerns the actual existence of real things in the universe. The subject is complicated by discussion of issues like whether compound objects really exist, a question of mereology. For example, does a 'book' exist or only the 'pages' of the book. How do we draw the line between 'reasonable' compound objects and silly ones like 'my nose and the Eiffel tower'?[5] Another confusion called 'Plato's beard' considers whether a statement like 'Pegasus is a flying horse' implies a belief in the existence of Pegasus. In general terms, is it true that statements, regardless of whether they are true, are about something?[6] Another large arena for discussion is the existence of properties and other universals that appear to be instantiated in multiple objects, rather than a particular one,[7] and their distinction from instances (tropes).[8]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Tony Lawson (December, 2004). A concept of ontology. Retrieved on 2013-07-19.
2. ↑ Willard van Orman Quine (September, 1948). "On what there is". Review of metaphysics 2: p. 21 ff. Reprinted in Willard van Orman Quine (1980). “Chapter 1: On what there is”, From a logical point of view, 2nd. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674323513. On-line version is found here.
3. ↑ Eli Hirsch (2011). “Introduction”, Quantifier Variance and Realism: Essays in Metaontology. Oxford University Press, p. xii. ISBN 0199732116.
4. ↑ Dag Westerståhl (April 19, 2011). Edward N. Zalta, ed.: Generalized Quantifiers. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2011 Edition).
5. ↑ Hilary Putnam (1987). The Many Faces of Realism, 2nd. Open Court, p. 33. ISBN 0812690427.
6. ↑ Alex Orenstein, Petr Kotatko (2001). “Plato's beard and Quine's stubble”, Knowledge, Language and Logic: Questions for Quine. Springer, p. 210. ISBN 140200253X.
7. ↑ Swoyer, Chris and Orilia, Francesco (September 12, 2011). Edward N. Zalta, ed.: Properties. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition).
8. ↑ Bacon, John (Feb 27, 2008). Edward N. Zalta, ed.: Tropes. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition).