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Single Idea 12064

[filed under theme 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / k. Explanations by essence ]

Full Idea

For us the importance of the category of substance, if it has any importance, is not so much ontological as relative to our epistemological circumstances and the conditions under which we have to undertake inquiry.

Gist of Idea

The category of substance is more important for epistemology than for ontology

Source

David Wiggins (Substance [1995], 4.13.2)

Book Ref

'Philosophy: a Guide Through the Subject', ed/tr. Grayling,A.C. [OUP 1995], p.244

A Reaction

This seems to be a rather significant concession. Wiggins has revived the notion of substance in recent times, but he is not quite adding it to the furniture of the world. Personally I increasingly think we can dump it, in ontology and epistemology.

The 14 ideas from 'Substance'

12057 Matter underlies things, composes things, and brings them to be [Wiggins]
12047 We refer to persisting substances, in perception and in thought, and they aid understanding [Wiggins]
12056 An ancestral relation is either direct or transitively indirect [Wiggins]
12055 Sortal predications are answers to the question 'what is x?' [Wiggins]
12059 A river may change constantly, but not in respect of being a river [Wiggins]
12063 Sortal classification becomes science, with cross reference clarifying individuals [Wiggins]
12064 The category of substance is more important for epistemology than for ontology [Wiggins]
12065 Seeing a group of soldiers as an army is irresistible, in ontology and explanation [Wiggins]
12049 Naming the secondary substance provides a mass of general information [Wiggins]
12050 Substances contain a source of change or principle of activity [Wiggins]
12052 We never single out just 'this', but always 'this something-or-other' [Wiggins]
12051 If the kinds are divided realistically, they fall into substances [Wiggins]
12053 'Human being' is a better answer to 'what is it?' than 'poet', as the latter comes in degrees [Wiggins]
12054 Secondary substances correctly divide primary substances by activity-principles and relations [Wiggins]