Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Aquinas, Thomas', 'Many, but almost one' and 'Platonistic Theories of Universals'

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9 ideas

2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 6. Ockham's Razor
Entities can be multiplied either by excessive categories, or excessive entities within a category [Hoffman/Rosenkrantz]
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 10. Vagueness / d. Vagueness as linguistic
Semantic indecision explains vagueness (if we have precisifications to be undecided about) [Lewis]
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 4. Uninstantiated Universals
'There are shapes which are never exemplified' is the toughest example for nominalists [Hoffman/Rosenkrantz]
8. Modes of Existence / E. Nominalism / 1. Nominalism / a. Nominalism
Nominalists are motivated by Ockham's Razor and a distrust of unobservables [Hoffman/Rosenkrantz]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / b. Cat and its tail
If cats are vague, we deny that the many cats are one, or deny that the one cat is many [Lewis]
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / e. Vague objects
We have one cloud, but many possible boundaries and aggregates for it [Lewis]
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 2. Nature of Possible Worlds / a. Nature of possible worlds
Four theories of possible worlds: conceptualist, combinatorial, abstract, or concrete [Hoffman/Rosenkrantz]
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 2. Demonstration
Demonstration provides depth of understanding and explanation (rather than foundations) [Kretzmann/Stump]
19. Language / F. Communication / 6. Interpreting Language / c. Principle of charity
Basic to pragmatics is taking a message in a way that makes sense of it [Lewis]