Full Idea
We are in the dark about the nature of philosophical problems and methods if we are in the dark about types and categories.
Gist of Idea
We can't do philosophy without knowledge of types and categories
Source
Gilbert Ryle (Categories [1938], p.189), quoted by Ofra Magidor - Category Mistakes 1.2
Book Reference
Magidor,Ofra: 'Category Mistakes' [OUP 2013], p.8
A Reaction
Magidor and others take this to be an assertion about language and logic, but I take it to be an assertion about reality. It is an early assertion of Schaffer's claim that ontology concerns the structure of existence, and not just what exists.
Related Idea
Idea 13748 Grounding is unanalysable and primitive, and is the basic structuring concept in metaphysics [Schaffer,J]