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Single Idea 22979

[filed under theme 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 1. Ontologies ]

Full Idea

I am told that I can ask three sorts of questions - whether a thing is, what it is, and what sort it is.

Gist of Idea

Three main questions seem to be whether a thing is, what it is, and what sort it is

Source

Augustine (Confessions [c.398], X.10)

Book Ref

Augustine: 'Confessions', ed/tr. Pine-Coffin,R.S. [Penguin 1961], p.217

A Reaction

This seems to be a very Aristotelian approach. I am pleased to see that what it is and what sort it is are not conflated. The first one must be its individual essence, and the second its generic essence.

The 15 ideas with the same theme [nature of our theories about fundamental reality]:

22979 Three main questions seem to be whether a thing is, what it is, and what sort it is [Augustine]
13933 Existence questions are 'internal' (within a framework) or 'external' (concerning the whole framework) [Carnap]
6523 Positivists regard ontology as either meaningless or stipulated [Ayer, by Robinson,H]
12210 Quine's ontology is wrong; his question is scientific, and his answer is partly philosophical [Fine,K on Quine]
12320 Ontology is (and always has been) Cantorian mathematics [Badiou]
7679 Ontology is the same as the conceptual foundations of logic [Jacquette]
12217 For ontology we need, not internal or external views, but a view from outside reality [Fine,K]
14594 Ontologists seek existence and identity conditions, and modal and epistemic status for a thing [Swoyer]
3517 'Ontology' means 'study of things which exist' [Maslin]
4474 Existence theories must match experience, possibility, logic and knowledge, and not be self-defeating [Moreland]
13925 Ontology disputes rest on more basic explanation disputes [Haslanger]
23768 A metaphysic is a set of wider explanations derived from a basic ontology [Williams,NE]
23773 Humeans say properties are passive, possibility is vast, laws are descriptions, causation is weak [Williams,NE]
23779 We shouldn't posit the existence of anything we have a word for [Williams,NE]
23786 The status quo is part of what exists, and so needs metaphysical explanation [Williams,NE]