Abstract objects : an introduction to axiomatic metaphysics
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Abstract objects : an introduction to axiomatic metaphysics
(Synthese library, v. 160)
D. Reidel , Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Boston, c1983
Available at 24 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. 187-189
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In this book, I attempt to lay the axiomatic foundations of metaphysics by developing and applying a (formal) theory of abstract objects. The cornerstones include a principle which presents precise conditions under which there are abstract objects and a principle which says when apparently distinct such objects are in fact identical. The principles are constructed out of a basic set of primitive notions, which are identified at the end of the Introduction, just before the theorizing begins. The main reason for producing a theory which defines a logical space of abstract objects is that it may have a great deal of explanatory power. It is hoped that the data explained by means of the theory will be of interest to pure and applied metaphysicians, logicians and linguists, and pure and applied epistemologists. The ideas upon which the theory is based are not essentially new. They can be traced back to Alexius Meinong and his student, Ernst Mally, the two most influential members of a school of philosophers and psychologists working in Graz in the early part of the twentieth century. They investigated psychological, abstract and non-existent objects - a realm of objects which weren't being taken seriously by Anglo-American philoso phers in the Russell tradition. I first took the views of Meinong and Mally seriously in a course on metaphysics taught by Terence Parsons at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst in the Fall of 1978. Parsons had developed an axiomatic version of Meinong's naive theory of objects.
Table of Contents
1. Theory, Data, and Explanation.- 2. The Origins of the Theory.- I. Elementary Object Theory.- 1. The Language.- 2. The Semantics.- 3. The Logic.- 4. The Proper Axioms.- 5. An Auxiliary Hypothesis.- II. Applications of the Elementary Theory.- 1. Modelling Plato's Forms.- 2. Modelling the Round Square, etc..- 3. The Problem of Existence 50 Appendix.- III. The Modal Theory of Abstract Objects (With Propositions).- 1. The Language.- 2. The Semantics.- 3. The Logic.- 4. The Proper Axioms.- IV. The Applications of the Modal Theory.- 1. Truth.- 2. Modelling Possible Worlds.- 3. Modelling Leibniz's Monads.- 4. Modelling Stories and Native Characters.- 5. Modality and Descriptions.- V. The Typed Theory of Abstract Objects.- 1. The Language.- 2. The Semantics.- 3. The Logic.- 4. The Proper Axioms.- VI. Applications of the Typed Theory.- 1. Modelling Frege's Senses (I).- 2. Modelling Frege's Senses (II).- 3. Modelling Impossible and Fictional Relations.- 4. Modelling Mathematical Myths and Entities.- Conclusion.- Appendices.- A. Modelling the Theory Itself.- B. Modelling Notions.- Notes.
by "Nielsen BookData"