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Single Idea 10468

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 1. Nature of Metaphysics ]

Full Idea

A metaphysical theory hs two parts: ontology and ideology. The ontology consists of the entities which the theory says exist; the ideology consists of the ideas which are expressed within the theory using predicates. Ideology sorts into categories.

Gist of Idea

A metaphysics has an ontology (objects) and an ideology (expressed ideas about them)

Source

Alex Oliver (The Metaphysics of Properties [1996], §02.1)

Book Ref

-: 'Mind' [-], p.2


A Reaction

Say 'what there is', and 'what we can say about it'. The modern notion remains controversial (see Ladyman and Ross, for example), so it is as well to start crystalising what metaphysics is. I am enthusiastic, but nervous about what is being said.


The 28 ideas with the same theme [nature of the most abstract philosophy]:

Understanding begins with the notion of being and essence [Avicenna]
Metaphysics is the best knowledge, because it is the simplest [Bacon]
Maybe analysis seeks the 'nominal essence', and metaphysics seeks the 'real essence' [Locke, by Mumford]
Metaphysics is a science of the intelligible nature of being [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
Metaphysics is a systematic account of everything that can be known a priori [Kant]
Metaphysics is generating a priori knowledge by intuition and concepts, leading to the synthetic [Kant]
The ideal of reason is the unification of abstract identity (or 'concept') and being [Hegel]
Hegel doesn't storm the heavens like the giants, but works his way up by syllogisms [Kierkegaard on Hegel]
Metaphysics is pointless without exact modern logic [Peirce]
Metaphysics is a universalisation of physical anguish [Cioran]
Quinean metaphysics just lists the beings, which is a domain with no internal structure [Schaffer,J on Quine]
Descriptive metaphysics aims at actual structure, revisionary metaphysics at a better structure [Strawson,P]
Metaphysics should avoid talk of past, present or future [Smart]
Metaphysics aims at the simplest explanation, without regard to testability [Ellis]
I don't think Lewis's cost-benefit reflective equilibrium approach offers enough guidance [Stalnaker]
Metaphysics is the most general attempt to make sense of things [Moore,AW]
Substantive metaphysics says what a property is, not what a predicate means [Molnar]
Metaphysics focuses on Platonism, essentialism, materialism and anti-realism [Benardete,JA]
A metaphysics has an ontology (objects) and an ideology (expressed ideas about them) [Oliver]
Metaphysics deals with the existence of things and with the nature of things [Fine,K]
Science needs metaphysics to weed out its presuppositions [Lowe, by Hofweber]
Metaphysics is the mapping of possibilities [Lowe, by Mumford]
You cannot understand what exists without understanding possibility and necessity [Hale]
Metaphysics is (supposedly) first the ontology, then in general what things are like [Hofweber]
Modern Quinean metaphysics is about what exists, but Aristotelian metaphysics asks about grounding [Schaffer,J]
Much metaphysical debate concerns what is fundamental, rather than what exists [Koslicki]
Metaphysics is a quest for truthmakers [Tallant]
Using modal logic, philosophers tried to handle all metaphysics in modal terms [Correia/Schnieder]