Ontological realism and sentential form

Synthese ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 195 (11) ◽  
pp. 5021-5036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen S. Nutting
Keyword(s):  
Ontological Realism ◽  
Sentential Form

A Functional Approach to Ontology

Metaphysica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Gan
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Conceptual Scheme ◽  
Ontological Realism

Abstract There are two ways of approaching an ontological debate: ontological realism recommends that metaphysicians seek to discover deep ontological facts of the matter, while ontological anti-realism denies that there are such facts; both views sometimes run into difficulties. This paper suggests an approach to ontology that begins with conceptual analysis and takes the results of that analysis as a guide for which metaontological view to hold. It is argued that in some cases, the functions for which we employ a part of our conceptual scheme might give us reasons to posit ontological facts regarding certain objects. The proposed approach recommends ontological realism about an object just in case our conceptual scheme gives us reason to. This yields a mixed overall metaontological view that adopts ontological realism to some issues and ontological anti-realism to others, and that avoids the difficulties that typically arise for the two views.

TOWARD UNDERSTANDING THE GENERATIVE CAPACITY OF ERASING RULES IN MATRIX GRAMMARS

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (02) ◽  
pp. 411-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORG ZETZSCHE
Keyword(s):  
Petri Net ◽  
Open Problem ◽  
Generative Capacity ◽  
Arbitrary Matrix ◽  
Matrix Grammar ◽  
Sentential Form

This article presents approaches to the open problem of whether erasing rules can be eliminated in matrix grammars. The class of languages generated by non-erasing matrix grammars is characterized by the newly introduced linear Petri net grammars. Petri net grammars are known to be equivalent to arbitrary matrix grammars (without appearance checking). In linear Petri net grammars, the marking has to be linear in size with respect to the length of the sentential form. The characterization by linear Petri net grammars is then used to show that applying linear erasing to a Petri net language yields a language generated by a non-erasing matrix grammar. It is also shown that in Petri net grammars (with final markings and arbitrary labeling), erasing rules can be eliminated, which yields two reformulations of the problem of whether erasing rules in matrix grammars can be eliminated.

scholarly journals A compositional and constraint-based approach to non-sentential utterances

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Schlangen ◽  
Alex Lascarides
Keyword(s):  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Sentential Form

We present an approach to the interpretation of non-sentential utterances like B's utterance in the following mini-dialogue: A: ˋˋWho came to the party?'' B: ˋˋPeter.´´ Such utterances pose several puzzles: they convey ˋsentence-type' messages (propositions, questions or request) while being of non-sentential form; and they are constrained both semantically and syntactically by the context. We address these puzzles in our approach which is compositional, since we provide a formal semantics for such fragments independent of their context, and constraint-based because resolution is based on collecting contextual constraints.

A Heretical Student in the Schopenhauerian School

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-69
Author(s):  
Anthony K. Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Will To Power ◽  
Real Thing ◽  
Ontological Realism ◽  
The World ◽  
Realist Ontology

Abstract The Schopenhauer-Schule was a group of original and diverse thinkers working in the wake of a common inspiration. This paper elucidates Nietzsche’s relationship with these thinkers specifically as concerns their intertwined theories of will. It shows that despite his efforts to suppress and ridicule them, Nietzsche was influenced by the Schopenhauer-Schule and adopted several of their alterations to Schopenhauer. But it will also show that Nietzsche was a heretical member of this school in the sense that his theory of will was not only different from theirs but also subversive. Whereas each member of the Schopenhauer-Schule posits a realist ontology of will, Nietzsche’s perspectivism undercuts the possibility of their ontological realism and puts in its place a semiotical system of expression. As a result of this contextualized framework, Nietzsche’s will to power is revealed, not as an intended reference to a real “thing” in the world, but as a symbol that expresses his perspective about an unknowable reality.

Boring Ontological Realism

2017 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-413
Author(s):  
Meghan Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Ontological Realism

Semantic Realism

1998 ◽  
pp. 6-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Landry
Keyword(s):  
Category Theory ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Philosophical Study ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Mathematical Concepts ◽  
Ontological Realism ◽  
Semantic Realism ◽  
And Mathematics

I argue that if we distinguish between ontological realism and semantic realism, then we no longer have to choose between platonism and formalism. If we take category theory as the language of mathematics, then a linguistic analysis of the content and structure of what we say in and about mathematical theories allows us to justify the inclusion of mathematical concepts and theories as legitimate objects of philosophical study. Insofar as this analysis relies on a distinction between ontological and semantic realism, it relies also on an implicit distinction between mathematics as a descriptive science and mathematics as a descriptive discourse. It is this latter distinction which gives rise to the tension between the mathematician qua philosopher. In conclusion, I argue that the tensions between formalism and platonism, indeed between mathematician and philosopher, arise because of an assumption that there is an analogy between mathematical talk and talk in the physical sciences.

Incomplete Secularization of History: Ethan Kleinberg and Hayden White

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Torbjörn Gustafsson Chorell
Keyword(s):  
Ontological Realism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Reasoning ◽  
Hayden White ◽  
Displacement Model ◽  
Historical Theory

Abstract According to the displacement model of secularization, religious-theological concepts, themes, and values have been reinterpreted in non-religious contexts without fully dispensing with the religious content. Secularization is thus incomplete. The incomplete secularization argument can be used as a lens through which to read Ethan Kleinberg’s deconstructive approach to the past. In his narrative, as reconstructed here, deconstruction promises to bring us closer to a secular relationship to the past than the ontological realism Kleinberg says still dominates contemporary historical theory. By contrasting Kleinberg’s analysis with Hayden White’s, whose oeuvre can be read as structured by the idea of incomplete secularization and a wish to liberate history from religious themes in order to enable a direct confrontation with meaninglessness, I argue that Kleinberg’s deconstructive approach does not fulfill its promise. Rather, it opens up a post-secular historiography in which religious themes might find a place at the very heart of historical reasoning.

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