Ontological commitment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jubien
Keyword(s):  
Ontological Commitment ◽  
Comparative Assessment ◽  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Question ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Central Figure ◽  
Occam’S Razor ◽  
The One ◽  
Occam's Razor

A person may believe in the existence of God, or numbers or ghosts. Such beliefs may be asserted, perhaps in a theory. Assertions of the existence of specific entities or kinds of entities are the intuitive source of the notion of ontological commitment, for it is natural to think of a person who makes such an assertion as being ‘committed’ to an ‘ontology’ that includes such entities. So ontological commitment appears to be a relation that holds between persons or existence assertions (including theories), on the one hand, and specific entities or kinds of entities (or ontologies), on the other. Ontological commitment is thus a very rich notion – one in which logical, metaphysical, linguistic and epistemic elements are intermingled. The main philosophical problem concerning commitment is whether there is a precise criterion for detecting commitments in accordance with intuition. It once seemed extremely important to find a criterion, for it promised to serve as a vital tool in the comparative assessment of theories. Many different criteria have been proposed and a variety of problems have beset these efforts. W.V. Quine has been the central figure in the discussion and we will consider two of his formulations below. Many important philosophical topics are closely connected with ontological commitment. These include: the nature of theories and their interpretation; interpretations of quantification; the nature of kinds; the question of the existence of merely possible entities; extensionality and intensionality; the general question of the nature of modality; and the significance of Occam’s razor.

Occam’s Razor, Dogmatism, Skepticism, and Skeptical Dogmatism

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Walker
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
External World ◽  
The Other ◽  
Common Sense View ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Occam’S Razor ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One ◽  
Occam's Razor

Underdetermination arguments for skepticism maintain that our common sense view of the external world is no better, evidentially speaking, than some skeptical competitors. An important and well-known response by dogmatists, those who believe our commonsense view is justified, appeals to abduction or inference to the best explanation. The predominant version of this strategy, going back at least to Locke, invokes Occam’s razor: dogmatists claim the common sense view is simpler than any of its skeptical alternatives and so has more to recommend it, evidentially speaking. This dispute has overshadowed another possible view: skeptical dogmatism. Skeptical dogmatists hold that we are justified in believing that the common sense view is probably false. I argue that skeptical dogmatism presents some interesting complications to the dialectic between the dogmatist and the skeptic. On the one hand, even if the dogmatist’s use of Occam’s razor is sufficient to rebut skepticism, in itself it is not sufficient to refute skeptical dogmatism. On the other hand, skeptics themselves, ironically, must, given the assumptions of the paper, appeal to something like Occam’s razor in order to avoid capitulating to skeptical dogmatism.

scholarly journals An Analytic Theologian Stance on the Existence of God

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedikt Paul Göcke
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Philosophical Discussion ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
The One

The existence of God is once again the focus of vivid philosophical discussion. From the point of view of analytic theology, however, people often talk past each other when they debate about the putative existence or non- existence of God. In the worst case, for instance, atheists deny the existence of a God, which no theists ever claimed to exist. In order to avoid confusions like this we need to be clear about the function of the term ‘God’ in its different contexts of use. In what follows, I distinguish between the functions of ‘God’ in philosophical contexts on the one hand and in theological contexts on the other in order to provide a schema, which helps to avoid confusion in the debate on the existence or non-existence of God.

scholarly journals Oor die bestaan van God en oor niksheid

1997 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kobus Labuschagne
Keyword(s):  
Karl Barth ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
The Real ◽  
Subjective Approach ◽  
Existentialist Philosophy ◽  
The One ◽  
Point Of Departure

On the existence of God and on nothingness The views of Karl Barth and the 'Heilsgeschichte'-tradition on the one hand, and those of Rudolf Bultmann and the 'Formkritik'-tradition on the other hand, do not differ so much on the method of objective historical research. The real differences start to appear on the hermeneutical front, where facts and events referred to in the Scriptures are evaluated and explained. The 'Heilsgeschichte' -tradition is consistent in maintaining an objective point of departure, whilst Bultmann and the 'Form-kritik'-tradition, influenced by existentialist philosophy, reveals a subjective approach. For Bultmann the kerygma cannot be verified historically but only subjectively or existentially. For Barth the kerygma cannot be separated from its true basis of historical events, in and through the person of Jesus Christ. These two different approaches have enormous con-sequences for the question of the existence of God.

The Symbolic Relationship and Christian Truth

1966 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-136
Author(s):  
Richard C. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Human Experience ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Statement ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Christian Understanding ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One

The philosophical problem of the relation of symbol to truth is far from solved, but there have been significant advances toward its solution. It is the common Christian understanding that God is Truth (among other things), and that all truths must ultimately find union in him. This is to say that all genuine truths must be compatible. The true conclusions of genuine science must be compatible with the true conclusions of genuine theology. Or, to bring this general statement to a more particular level, the true conclusions of Biblical scholarship must be compatible with the true conclusions of the natural sciences. When this compatibility is lacking, and it so often is, we must assume that the conclusions of one field of truth-seeking or the other do not partake of the Truth which is God. And there is no guarantee that theology as a field of truth-seeking cannot err. Another characteristic of genuine truth is that it is not dependent upon any particular environment or milieu—either social, cultural, philosophical, or even theological. Unless we are to make the common but dangerous division of sacred and secular, of holy and profane, claim that these areas of human experience have nothing to do the one with the other, compartmentalise our thought, and ask, ‘What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?’, it must be concluded that there is no one specifically Christian milieu. Genuine truths must be true at all times, in all places, and for all men. But since we are not gods, we must hold these truths in what St Paul called earthen vessels (II Cor. 4:7), vessels shaped and moulded by our particular milieu.

A contrastive analysis of absolute constructions in French, German and Norwegian

2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Hobæk Haff
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
General Question ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The One ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Matrix Subject

This paper is an exploration of similarities and differences concerning absolute constructions in French, German and Norwegian. In the first part, I have examined a more general question raised by these constructions: the connections between these types of absolute constructions and the matrix subject. I have shown that the means by which the absolute constructions are related to the subject can be morphosyntactic, semantic and pragmatic. The second part contains a purely contrastive analysis. Two issues have been examined: on the one hand, the absolute constructions and their congruent and non-congruent correspondences, on the other, the use of determiners. Essentially, French is different from the two Germanic languages, but similarities also exist between French and German, which are the center of a European Sprachbund.

scholarly journals The study of the sociospatial aspect of green building in St.Petersburg: theoretical and practical aspects

2019 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 03054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Orlovskaya ◽  
Svetlana Ershova
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Comparative Assessment ◽  
The Other ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
The One ◽  
The City ◽  
Paired Analysis ◽  
Selection Of

The article discusses the modern problems of green building. The duality of the greening problem in large cities is noted: on the one hand, this is one of the factors of conflict, on the other hand, the factor of the quality of life, creativity of the city, and its image level. The selection of factors for the analysis was carried out taking into account the research of Russian and foreign scientists and the possibility of obtaining reliable statistics. The study was conducted according to the landscaping of the districts of St. Petersburg. As a result of the study, clustering of St. Petersburg districts was carried out according to greenery indicators, the level of green construction in each of the considered territories of the city was estimated. A paired analysis of indicators made it possible to identify the most problematic areas of the city, to conduct a comparative assessment of the districts according to the level of greenery and their sufficiency to create a comfortable environment

Un péage à l'orée du bois? (Essai) | A tollbooth at the forest edge? (Essay)

2009 ◽  
Vol 160 (8) ◽  
pp. 244-246
Author(s):  
Olivier Guex
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Forest Edge ◽  
Comparative Assessment ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Du Bois ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

Does the principle of multifunctionality mean that the forest must fulfill every requirement put forward? Does the modern notion of “commodity”, drawn from the laws of supply and demand, give forest owners the right to expect payment for every service provided? In view of the current difficult economic situation and the increase and diversification of these requirements, the questions are justified. This article does not have the pretension to provide all the answers. However, by means of further questions and through the introduction of various examples, the reader is invited to consider the subtly differentiated proportions of the importance of the public interest on the one hand as opposed to that of private interests on the other, and thus to be able to draw conclusions. Thanks to this comparative assessment, possibilities concerning the magnitude and the source of these payments should become clear.

The Dual Basis of Conduct

Philosophy ◽  
1930 ◽  
Vol 5 (19) ◽  
pp. 408-421
Author(s):  
Herbert Samuel
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
General Question ◽  
Dual Basis ◽  
The One

I do not propose in this paper to discuss what is the nature of the Good. Although the content of morality and the sanction for morality are closely connected, and it may be argued with much force that it is not practicable to deal with them separately, limits must be set to any one discussion. I would propose, therefore, not to embark upon the general question—what conduct is right and what is wrong; but, assuming that there is right and wrong, to consider why we should pursue the one and avoid the other.

scholarly journals On the cohomology of certain subspaces of $$\text {Sym}^n(\mathbb {P}^1)$$ and Occam’s razor for Hodge structures

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oishee Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Zeta Functions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Grothendieck Ring ◽  
Hodge Structures ◽  
Symmetric Powers ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Occam’S Razor ◽  
Motivic Zeta Functions ◽  
Occam's Razor

AbstractVakil and Matchett-Wood (Discriminants in the Grothendieck ring of varieties, 2013. arXiv:1208.3166) made several conjectures on the topology of symmetric powers of geometrically irreducible varieties based on their computations on motivic zeta functions. Two of those conjectures are about subspaces of $$\text {Sym}^n(\mathbb {P}^1)$$ Sym n ( P 1 ) . In this note, we disprove one of them and prove a stronger form of the other, thereby obtaining (counter)examples to the principle of Occam’s razor for Hodge structures.

scholarly journals Salman Rushdie's "The location of Brazil": the imaginary homelands of fantastic literature

2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
Silvia Albertazzi
Keyword(s):  
Salman Rushdie ◽  
The Other ◽  
Fantastic Literature ◽  
Central Figure ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Minor Literatures ◽  
The One

In 1985, under the title "The Location of Brazil" Salman Rushdie published a long review of Terry Gilliam's film Brazil, which today is to be found in his collection Imaginary Homelands. My essay shows how Rushdie's article can be considered a sort of manifesto of his poetics, pivoting on his idea of a political use of the fantastic and his concept of the migrant as a central figure of modernity. Rushdie's theories seem to anticipate on the one hand Deleuze and Guattari's ideas on minor literatures and, on the other, Arjun Appadurai's views on "modernity at large".

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