Single Idea 12441

[catalogued under 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / e. Ontological commitment problems]

Full Idea

A slogan: One can't read ontological commitments from semantic conditions unless one has already smuggled into those semantic conditions the ontology one would like to read off.

Gist of Idea

We only get ontology from semantics if we have already smuggled it in

Source

Jody Azzouni (Deflating Existential Consequence [2004], Ch.3)

Book Reference

Azzouni,Jody: 'Deflating Existential Consequence' [OUP 2004], p.55


A Reaction

The arguments supporting this are subtle, but it's good enough for me, as I never thought anyone was ontologically committed just because they used the vagueries of language to try to say what's going on around here.