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Single Idea 13130

[filed under theme 7. Existence / E. Categories / 1. Categories ]

Full Idea

Categories in terms of generality, dependence and containment are unsatisfactory because of the 'cut-off point problem': they don't give an account of how far down the order we can go and be sure we are still dealing with categories.

Gist of Idea

Categories as generalities don't give a criterion for a low-level cut-off point

Source

Jan Westerhoff (Ontological Categories [2005], §27)

Book Ref

Westerhoff,Jan: 'Ontological Categories' [OUP 2005], p.65

A Reaction

I don't see why this should be a devastating objection to any theory. I have a very clear notion of a human being, but a very hazy notion of how far back towards its conception a human being extends.

The 14 ideas from 'Ontological Categories'

13117 How far down before we are too specialised to have a category? [Westerhoff]
13116 Maybe objects in the same category have the same criteria of identity [Westerhoff]
13118 Categories are base-sets which are used to construct states of affairs [Westerhoff]
13115 Ontological categories are like formal axioms, not unique and with necessary membership [Westerhoff]
13119 Categories merely systematise, and are not intrinsic to objects [Westerhoff]
13124 Categories can be ordered by both containment and generality [Westerhoff]
13123 All systems have properties and relations, and most have individuals, abstracta, sets and events [Westerhoff]
13125 Categories are held to explain why some substitutions give falsehood, and others meaninglessness [Westerhoff]
13126 Categories systematize our intuitions about generality, substitutability, and identity [Westerhoff]
13130 Categories as generalities don't give a criterion for a low-level cut-off point [Westerhoff]
13129 Essential kinds may be too specific to provide ontological categories [Westerhoff]
13131 The aim is that everything should belong in some ontological category or other [Westerhoff]
13134 We negate predicates but do not negate names [Westerhoff]
13135 A thing's ontological category depends on what else exists, so it is contingent [Westerhoff]