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Single Idea 10519
[filed under theme 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 7. Abstract/Concrete / a. Abstract/concrete
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Full Idea
Noonan suggests that the distinction between abstract and concrete objects should be seen as derivative from a difference between the relations centrally involved in criteria of identity associated with names of objects.
Gist of Idea
The abstract/concrete distinction is in the relations in the identity-criteria of object-names
Source
Bob Hale (Abstract Objects [1987], Ch.3.III)
Book Ref
Hale,Bob: 'Abstract Objects' [Blackwell 1987], p.56
A Reaction
[He cites Noonan 1976, but I've lost it] I don't understand this, but collect it as a lead to something that might be interesting. A careful reading of Hale might reveal what Noonan meant.
Related Ideas
Idea 14002
Possible worlds must be abstract, because two qualitatively identical worlds are just one world [Markosian]
Idea 10519
The abstract/concrete distinction is in the relations in the identity-criteria of object-names [Hale]
The
23 ideas
from 'Abstract Objects'
10308
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Questions about objects are questions about certain non-vacuous singular terms
[Hale]
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10310
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Objections to Frege: abstracta are unknowable, non-independent, unstatable, unindividuated
[Hale]
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10307
|
The modern Fregean use of the term 'object' is much broader than the ordinary usage
[Hale]
|
10312
|
Often the same singular term does not ensure reliable inference
[Hale]
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10313
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Plenty of clear examples have singular terms with no ontological commitment
[Hale]
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10314
|
An expression is a genuine singular term if it resists elimination by paraphrase
[Hale]
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10316
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We should decide whether singular terms are genuine by their usage
[Hale]
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10318
|
Realists take universals to be the referrents of both adjectives and of nouns
[Hale]
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10315
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We can't believe in a 'whereabouts' because we ask 'what kind of object is it?'
[Hale]
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10321
|
We sometimes apply identity without having a real criterion
[Hale]
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10322
|
If singular terms can't be language-neutral, then we face a relativity about their objects
[Hale]
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10511
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It is doubtful if one entity, a universal, can be picked out by both predicates and abstract nouns
[Hale]
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10513
|
Many abstract objects, such as chess, seem non-spatial, but are not atemporal
[Hale]
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10514
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If the mental is non-spatial but temporal, then it must be classified as abstract
[Hale]
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10512
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The abstract/concrete distinction is based on what is perceivable, causal and located
[Hale]
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10517
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Colours and points seem to be both concrete and abstract
[Hale]
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10518
|
Shapes and directions are of something, but games and musical compositions are not
[Hale]
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10523
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Being abstract is based on a relation between things which are spatially separated
[Hale]
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10521
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If F can't have location, there is no problem of things having F in different locations
[Hale]
|
10519
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The abstract/concrete distinction is in the relations in the identity-criteria of object-names
[Hale]
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10520
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Token-letters and token-words are concrete objects, type-letters and type-words abstract
[Hale]
|
10524
|
There is a hierarchy of abstraction, based on steps taken by equivalence relations
[Hale]
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10522
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The relations featured in criteria of identity are always equivalence relations
[Hale]
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