more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The argument that the relation of dependence is well-founded ...is a version of the classical arguments for substance. ..Any conceptual scheme which genuinely represents a world cannot contain infinite backward chains of meaning.
Gist of Idea
If dependence is well-founded, with no infinite backward chains, this implies substances
Source
Michael Potter (Set Theory and Its Philosophy [2004], 03.3)
Book Ref
Potter,Michael: 'Set Theory and Its Philosophy' [OUP 2004], p.40
A Reaction
Thus the iterative conception of set may imply a notion of substance, and Barwise's radical attempt to ditch the Axiom of Foundation (Idea 13039) was a radical attempt to get rid of 'substances'. Potter cites Wittgenstein as a fan of substances here.
Related Idea
Idea 13039 Foundation:∀x(∃y(y∈x) → ∃y(y∈x ∧ ¬∃z(z∈x ∧ z∈y))) [Kunen]
599 | We may have to postulate unobservable and unknowable substances [Aristotle] |
16629 | By comparing qualities and features, reason can gradually infer the nature of substance [Grosseteste] |
5639 | Spinoza implies that thought is impossible without the notion of substance [Spinoza, by Scruton] |
12704 | Aggregates don’t reduce to points, or atoms, or illusion, so must reduce to substance [Leibniz] |
10710 | We accept substance, to avoid infinite backwards chains of meaning [Wittgenstein, by Potter] |
13042 | If dependence is well-founded, with no infinite backward chains, this implies substances [Potter] |