Single Idea 13126

[catalogued under 7. Existence / E. Categories / 1. Categories]

Full Idea

Systems of ontological categories are systematizations of our intuitions about generality, intersubstitutability, and identity.

Gist of Idea

Categories systematize our intuitions about generality, substitutability, and identity

Source

Jan Westerhoff (Ontological Categories [2005], §23)

Book Reference

Westerhoff,Jan: 'Ontological Categories' [OUP 2005], p.55


A Reaction

I think we might be able to concede this without conceding the relativism about categories which Westerhoff espouses. I would claim that our 'intuitions' are pretty accurate about the joints of nature, and hence accurate about these criteria.