19 ideas
13939 | No possible evidence could decide the reality of numbers, so it is a pseudo-question [Carnap] |
21642 | If quantification is all substitutional, there is no ontology [Quine] |
13936 | Questions about numbers are answered by analysis, and are analytic, and hence logically true [Carnap] |
8748 | Logical positivists incorporated geometry into logicism, saying axioms are just definitions [Carnap, by Shapiro] |
8960 | Internal questions about abstractions are trivial, and external ones deeply problematic [Carnap, by Szabó] |
1633 | Absolute ontological questions are meaningless, because the answers are circular definitions [Quine] |
13933 | Existence questions are 'internal' (within a framework) or 'external' (concerning the whole framework) [Carnap] |
13934 | To be 'real' is to be an element of a system, so we cannot ask reality questions about the system itself [Carnap] |
13938 | A linguistic framework involves commitment to entities, so only commitment to the framework is in question [Carnap] |
18964 | Ontology is relative to both a background theory and a translation manual [Quine] |
13935 | We only accept 'things' within a language with formation, testing and acceptance rules [Carnap] |
18965 | We know what things are by distinguishing them, so identity is part of ontology [Quine] |
13932 | Empiricists tend to reject abstract entities, and to feel sympathy with nominalism [Carnap] |
13937 | New linguistic claims about entities are not true or false, but just expedient, fruitful or successful [Carnap] |
1634 | Two things are relative - the background theory, and translating the object theory into the background theory [Quine] |
13940 | All linguistic forms in science are merely judged by their efficiency as instruments [Carnap] |
8470 | Reference is inscrutable, because we cannot choose between theories of numbers [Quine, by Orenstein] |
18963 | Indeterminacy translating 'rabbit' depends on translating individuation terms [Quine] |
7903 | The six perfections are giving, morality, patience, vigour, meditation, and wisdom [Nagarjuna] |