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Full Idea
I hold that the question of the ontological commitment of a theory does not properly arise except as that theory is expressed in classical quantificational form.
Gist of Idea
Ontological commitment of theories only arise if they are classically quantified
Source
Willard Quine (Existence and Quantification [1966], p.106)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'Ontological Relativity and Other Essays' [Columbia 1969], p.106
A Reaction
He is attacking substitutional quantification for its failure to commit. I smell circularity. If it must be quantified in the first-order classical manner, that restricts your ontology to objects before you've even started. Chicken/egg.
| 4216 | Express a theory in first-order predicate logic; its ontology is the types of bound variable needed for truth [Quine, by Lowe] |
| 18966 | Ontological commitment of theories only arise if they are classically quantified [Quine] |
| 8459 | Fictional quantification has no ontology, so we study ontology through scientific theories [Quine, by Orenstein] |
| 8497 | An ontology is like a scientific theory; we accept the simplest scheme that fits disorderly experiences [Quine] |
| 18964 | Ontology is relative to both a background theory and a translation manual [Quine] |
| 3325 | For Quine everything exists theoretically, as reference, predication and quantification [Quine, by Benardete,JA] |
| 15002 | If the best theory of adverbs refers to events, then our ontology should include events [Davidson, by Sider] |
| 18505 | Fundamental ontology aims at the preconditions for any true theory [Heil] |
| 14983 | Accept the ontology of your best theory - and also that it carves nature at the joints [Sider] |
| 16258 | To get an ontology from ontological commitment, just add that some theory is actually true [Maudlin] |
| 14489 | Theories do not avoid commitment to entities by avoiding certain terms or concepts [Thomasson] |