more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
It is usually assumed of ontological categories that they can explain why certain substitutions make a statement false ('prime' for 'odd'), while others make it meaningless ('sweet' for 'odd', of numbers).
Gist of Idea
Categories are held to explain why some substitutions give falsehood, and others meaninglessness
Source
Jan Westerhoff (Ontological Categories [2005], §05)
Book Ref
Westerhoff,Jan: 'Ontological Categories' [OUP 2005], p.24
A Reaction
So there is a strong link between big ontological questions, and Ryle's famous identification of the 'category mistake'. The phenomenon of the category mistake is undeniable, and should make us sympathetic to the idea of categories.