Title: On the Ontological Priority of Physical Objects
Abstract: Strawson, in Chapter 1 of Individuals,' had argued that physical objects are ontologically prior to all other particulars. I believe that there is some truth to the position that he advances, but that there are also many false aspects to it. I also believe that there are immense weaknesses in Strawson's argument for his position but that it is possible to construct an alternative argument for the true aspects of it. This paper will argue for these beliefs. What is meant by ontological priority? We shall say that an entity a is in a given person's ontology if and only if there is some object b identical with a such that that person believes that b exists and there is no object c identical with a such that that person believes that c does not exist.2 And we shall say that entities of type a are in a given person's ontology if and only if there is a type [ identical with a such that that person believes that entities of type [ exist and there is no type X identical with a such that that
Publication Year: 1971
Publication Date: 1971-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 2
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