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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology' and 'Noneism or Allism?'

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4 ideas

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 1. Nature of Existence

15532	'Allists' embrace the existence of all controversial entities; 'noneists' reject all but the obvious ones [Lewis]
	Full Idea: An expansive friend of the controversial entities who says they all exist may be called an 'allist'; a tough desert-dweller who says that none of them exist may be called a 'noneist'.
	From: David Lewis (Noneism or Allism? [1990], p.152)
	A reaction: Lewis gives examples of the obvious and the controversial entities. Lewis implies that he himself is in between. The word 'desert' is a reference to Quine.

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 2. Types of Existence

15535	We can't accept a use of 'existence' that says only some of the things there are actually exist [Lewis]
	Full Idea: If 'existence' is understood so that it can be a substantive thesis that only some of the things there are exist, we will have none of it.
	From: David Lewis (Noneism or Allism? [1990], p.163)
	A reaction: Lewis is a strong advocate, following Quine, of the univocal sense of the word 'exist', and I agree with them.

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 4. Abstract Existence

8960	Internal questions about abstractions are trivial, and external ones deeply problematic [Carnap, by Szabó]
	Full Idea: Carnap's verdict is that questions regarding the existence of abstracta tend to be trivial when taken as internal and deeply problematic when taken as external.
	From: report of Rudolph Carnap (Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology [1950]) by Zoltán Gendler Szabó - Nominalism 6
	A reaction: If the internal aspect of the problem is 'trivial', this would put Carnap in league with fictionalists, who are only committed to entities while playing the current game. What is the status of the theory? Carnap wanted flowers to bloom.

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence

5992	Chrysippus says action is the criterion for existence, which must be physical [Chrysippus, by Tieleman]
	Full Idea: Chrysippus regarded power to act and be acted upon as the criterion for existence or being - a test satisfied by bodies alone.
	From: report of Chrysippus (fragments/reports [c.240 BCE]) by Teun L. Tieleman - Chrysippus
	A reaction: This defines existence in terms of causation. Is he ruling out a priori a particle (say) which exists, but never interacts with anything? If so, he is inclining towards anti-realism.