Ideas of Michael Devitt, by Theme
[American, b.1938, Professor at the University of Maryland, then Professor at the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York.]
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8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 1. Universals
8502
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Realism doesn't explain 'a is F' any further by saying it is 'a has F-ness'
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8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 1. Nominalism / b. Nominalism about universals
8503
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The particular/universal distinction is unhelpful clutter; we should accept 'a is F' as basic
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8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 1. Nominalism / c. Nominalism about abstracta
8501
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Quineans take predication about objects as basic, not reference to properties they may have
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9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 10. Essence as Species
17368
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Essentialism concerns the nature of a group, not its category
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17370
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Things that gradually change, like species, can still have essences
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12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 4. A Priori as Necessities
9354
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Why should necessities only be knowable a priori? That Hesperus is Phosporus is known empirically
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19565
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How could the mind have a link to the necessary character of reality?
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12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 9. A Priori from Concepts
9353
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We explain away a priori knowledge, not as directly empirical, but as indirectly holistically empirical
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12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 11. Denying the A Priori
9356
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The idea of the a priori is so obscure that it won't explain anything
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19564
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Some knowledge must be empirical; naturalism implies that all knowledge is like that
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26. Natural Theory / B. Natural Kinds / 1. Natural Kinds
17371
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Some kinds are very explanatory, but others less so, and some not at all
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27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 5. Species
17369
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We name species as small to share properties, but large enough to yield generalisations
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17367
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Species are phenetic, biological, niche, or phylogenetic-cladistic [PG]
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17372
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The higher categories are not natural kinds, so the Linnaean hierarchy should be given up
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17373
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Species pluralism says there are several good accounts of what a species is
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