more from Jan Westerhoff

Single Idea 13130

[catalogued under 7. Existence / E. Categories / 1. Categories]

Full Idea

Categories in terms of generality, dependence and containment are unsatisfactory because of the 'cut-off point problem': they don't give an account of how far down the order we can go and be sure we are still dealing with categories.

Gist of Idea

Categories as generalities don't give a criterion for a low-level cut-off point

Source

Jan Westerhoff (Ontological Categories [2005], §27)

Book Reference

Westerhoff,Jan: 'Ontological Categories' [OUP 2005], p.65


A Reaction

I don't see why this should be a devastating objection to any theory. I have a very clear notion of a human being, but a very hazy notion of how far back towards its conception a human being extends.