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Single Idea 13119
[filed under theme 7. Existence / E. Categories / 5. Category Anti-Realism
]
Full Idea
My conclusion is that categories are relativistic, used for systematization, and that it is not an intrinsic feature of an object to belong to a category, and that there is no fundamental distinction between individuals and properties.
Gist of Idea
Categories merely systematise, and are not intrinsic to objects
Source
Jan Westerhoff (Ontological Categories [2005], Intro)
Book Ref
Westerhoff,Jan: 'Ontological Categories' [OUP 2005], p.9
A Reaction
[compressed] He calls his second conclusion 'anti-essentialist', but I think we can still get an account of (explanatory) essence while agreeing with his relativised view of categories. Wiggins might be his main opponent.
The
14 ideas
from Jan Westerhoff
13117
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How far down before we are too specialised to have a category?
[Westerhoff]
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13116
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Maybe objects in the same category have the same criteria of identity
[Westerhoff]
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13118
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Categories are base-sets which are used to construct states of affairs
[Westerhoff]
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13115
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Ontological categories are like formal axioms, not unique and with necessary membership
[Westerhoff]
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13119
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Categories merely systematise, and are not intrinsic to objects
[Westerhoff]
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13123
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All systems have properties and relations, and most have individuals, abstracta, sets and events
[Westerhoff]
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13124
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Categories can be ordered by both containment and generality
[Westerhoff]
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13125
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Categories are held to explain why some substitutions give falsehood, and others meaninglessness
[Westerhoff]
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13126
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Categories systematize our intuitions about generality, substitutability, and identity
[Westerhoff]
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13130
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Categories as generalities don't give a criterion for a low-level cut-off point
[Westerhoff]
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13129
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Essential kinds may be too specific to provide ontological categories
[Westerhoff]
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13131
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The aim is that everything should belong in some ontological category or other
[Westerhoff]
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13134
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We negate predicates but do not negate names
[Westerhoff]
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13135
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A thing's ontological category depends on what else exists, so it is contingent
[Westerhoff]
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