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Single Idea 8971

[filed under theme 9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 3. Objects in Thought ]

Full Idea

There are objects of which it is true that there are no such objects.

Gist of Idea

There are objects of which it is true that there are no such objects

Source

Alexius Meinong (The Theory of Objects [1904]), quoted by Peter van Inwagen - Existence,Ontological Commitment and Fictions p.131

Book Ref

'The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics', ed/tr. Loux,M /Zimmerman,D [OUP 2005], p.131

A Reaction

Van Inwagen say this idea is 'infamous', but Meinong is undergoing a revival, and commitment to non-existent objects may be the best explanation of some ways of talking.

The 15 ideas with the same theme [objects as conceptual entities used in reasoning]:

9825 A thing is completely determined by all that can be thought concerning it [Dedekind]
10535 Frege's 'objects' are both the referents of proper names, and what predicates are true or false of [Frege, by Dummett]
8489 The concept 'object' is too simple for analysis; unlike a function, it is an expression with no empty place [Frege]
8785 For Frege, objects just are what singular terms refer to [Frege, by Hale/Wright]
10278 Without concepts we would not have any objects [Frege, by Shapiro]
9877 Late Frege saw his non-actual objective objects as exclusively thoughts and senses [Frege, by Dummett]
8718 Meinong says an object need not exist, but must only have properties [Meinong, by Friend]
8971 There are objects of which it is true that there are no such objects [Meinong]
21536 When I perceive a melody, I do not perceive the notes as existing [Russell]
7781 I call an object of thought a 'term'. This is a wide concept implying unity and existence. [Russell]
22320 An 'object' is just what can be referred to without possible non-existence [Wittgenstein]
10796 If objects are thoughts, aren't we back to psychologism? [Marcus (Barcan)]
10531 There is a modern philosophical notion of 'object', first introduced by Frege [Dummett]
9202 Objects, as well as sentences, can have logical form [Fine,K]
8263 An object is an entity which has identity-conditions [Lowe]