Ideas from 'Ambitious, yet modest, Metaphysics' by Thomas Hofweber [2009], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Metametaphysics' (ed/tr Chalmers/Manley/Wasserman) [OUP 2009,978-0-19-954600-8]].

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1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 5. Metaphysics beyond Science
Esoteric metaphysics aims to be top science, investigating ultimate reality
                        Full Idea: Esoteric metaphysics appeals to those, I conjecture, who deep down hold that philosophy is the queen of sciences after all, since it investigates what the world is REALLY like.
                        From: Thomas Hofweber (Ambitious, yet modest, Metaphysics [2009], 2)
                        A reaction: He mentions Kit Fine and Jonathan Schaffer as esoteric metaphysicians. I see a pyramid of increasing generality and abstraction, with metaphysics at the top. This doesn't make it 'queen', though, because uncertainties multiply higher up.
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 7. Against Metaphysics
Science has discovered properties of things, so there are properties - so who needs metaphysics?
                        Full Idea: Material science has found that some features of metals make them more susceptible to corrosion but more resistant to fracture. Thus this immediately implies that there are features, i.e. properties. What is left for metaphysics to do?
                        From: Thomas Hofweber (Ambitious, yet modest, Metaphysics [2009], 1.1)
                        A reaction: Presumably economists have discovered 'features' of economies that cause unemployment, and literary critics have discovered 'features' of novels that make them good.
5. Theory of Logic / G. Quantification / 1. Quantification
The quantifier in logic is not like the ordinary English one (which has empty names, non-denoting terms etc)
                        Full Idea: The inferential role of the existential quantifier in first order logic does not carry over to the existential quantifier in English (we have empty names, singular terms that are not even in the business of denoting, and so on).
                        From: Thomas Hofweber (Ambitious, yet modest, Metaphysics [2009], 2)