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Single Idea 18770

[filed under theme 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / a. Ontological commitment ]

Full Idea

There are sensible ways to maike a distinction between different kinds of being. ..One need not fear that this leads to a 'bloated ontology'. ...We need only distinguish 'ontological commitment' from 'existential commitment'

Gist of Idea

We can distinguish 'ontological' from 'existential' commitment, for different kinds of being

Source

C. Anthony Anderson (Identity and Existence in Logic [2014], 2.6)

Book Ref

'Bloomsbury Companion to Philosophical Logic', ed/tr. Horsten,L/Pettigrew,R [Bloomsbury 2014], p.74


A Reaction

He speaks of giving fictional and abstract entities a 'lower score' in existence. I think he means the 'ontological' commitment to be the stronger of the two.


The 9 ideas from 'Identity and Existence in Logic'

Basic variables in second-order logic are taken to range over subsets of the individuals [Anderson,CA]
The notion of 'property' is unclear for a logical version of the Identity of Indiscernibles [Anderson,CA]
Individuation was a problem for medievals, then Leibniz, then Frege, then Wittgenstein (somewhat) [Anderson,CA]
's is non-existent' cannot be said if 's' does not designate [Anderson,CA]
Free logics has terms that do not designate real things, and even empty domains [Anderson,CA]
We cannot pick out a thing and deny its existence, but we can say a concept doesn't correspond [Anderson,CA]
Do mathematicians use 'existence' differently when they say some entity exists? [Anderson,CA]
We can distinguish 'ontological' from 'existential' commitment, for different kinds of being [Anderson,CA]
Stop calling ∃ the 'existential' quantifier, read it as 'there is...', and range over all entities [Anderson,CA]