Revisionary and Descriptive Metaphysics

Philosophica 81 (1):23-58 (2008)
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Abstract

The goal of formal ontological inquiry is to reveal the categorial structure of the mind-independent reality. In the first part of this article, I criticize two popular ways to study the categorial structure, Strong and Weak Modelling. In the second part of the article, I present my positive account. The systematic description of the different kinds of entities assumed by our commonsense conceptions forms a starting-point of the study of the categorial structure of the world. However, it is the task of Revisionary Metaphysics to seek for the best conception of the categorial structure. Revisionary Metaphysics proceeds as testing alternative conceptions of the categorial structure. The main new contribution of the article is to propose certain general principles for the comparison of such alternative conceptions.

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Markku Keinänen
Tampere University

Citations of this work

From Ontology of Interaction to Semiotics of Education.Eetu Pikkarainen - 2013 - In Kirsi Tirri & Elina Kuusisto (eds.), Interaction in Educational Domains. Sense Publishers. pp. 51-62.

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References found in this work

Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics.Peter Strawson - 1959 - London, England: Routledge. Edited by Wenfang Wang.
Counterpart theory and quantified modal logic.David Lewis - 1968 - Journal of Philosophy 65 (5):113-126.

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