Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Causation and Laws of Nature' and 'The Limits of Abstraction'

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3 ideas

2. Reason / D. Definition / 3. Types of Definition
'Creative definitions' do not presuppose the existence of the objects defined [Fine,K]
     Full Idea: What I call 'creative definitions' are made from a standpoint in which the existence of the objects that are to be assigned to the terms is not presupposed.
     From: Kit Fine (The Limits of Abstraction [2002], II.1)
Implicit definitions must be satisfiable, creative definitions introduce things, contextual definitions build on things [Fine,K, by Cook/Ebert]
     Full Idea: Fine distinguishes 'implicit definitions', where we must know it is satisfiable before it is deployed, 'creative definitions', where objects are introduced in virtue of the definition, ..and 'contextual definitions', based on established vocabulary.
     From: report of Kit Fine (The Limits of Abstraction [2002], 060) by R Cook / P Ebert - Notice of Fine's 'Limits of Abstraction' 3
     A reaction: Fine is a fan of creative definition. This sounds something like the distinction between cutting nature at the perceived joints, and speculating about where new joints might be inserted. Quite a helpful thought.
2. Reason / F. Fallacies / 1. Fallacy
'Reification' occurs if we mistake a concept for a thing [Schaffer,J]
     Full Idea: 'Reification' occurs when a mere concept is mistaken for a thing. We seem generally prone to this sort of error.
     From: Jonathan Schaffer (Causation and Laws of Nature [2008], 3.1)
     A reaction: Personally I think we should face up to the fact that this is the only way we can think about generalised or abstract entities, and stop thinking of it as an 'error'. We have evolved to think well about objects, so we translate everything that way.