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7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / e. Ontological commitment problems

[troubles with theories of commitment]

17 ideas
To our consciousness it is language which looks unreal [Feuerbach]
Russell showed that descriptions may not have ontological commitment [Russell, by Linsky,B]
You can be implicitly committed to something without quantifying over it [Thomasson on Quine]
If commitment rests on first-order logic, we obviously lose the ontology concerning predication [Maudlin on Quine]
If to be is to be the value of a variable, we must already know the values available [Jacquette on Quine]
Quine is hopeless circular, deriving ontology from what is literal, and 'literal' from good ontology [Yablo on Quine]
If a mathematical structure is rejected from a physical theory, it retains its mathematical status [Parsons,C]
Our best theories may commit us to mathematical abstracta, but that doesn't justify the commitment [Papineau]
All scientific tests will verify mathematics, so it is a background, not something being tested [Sober]
Our quantifications only reveal the truths we accept; the ontology and truthmakers are another matter [Heil]
The theoretical indispensability of atoms did not at first convince scientists that they were real [Maddy]
If a successful theory confirms mathematics, presumably a failed theory disconfirms it? [Chihara]
No scientific explanation would collapse if mathematical objects were shown not to exist [Chihara]
Naïve translation from natural to formal language can hide or multiply the ontology [Maudlin]
In the vernacular there is no unequivocal ontological commitment [Azzouni]
We only get ontology from semantics if we have already smuggled it in [Azzouni]
Ordinary speakers posit objects without concern for ontology [Linnebo]