Anniversary: CLLAM-seminar 30 years with Øystein Linnebo (Oslo)
Seminar
Date: Friday 20 January 2023
Time: 10.00 – 12.00
Location: D700
Abstraction and grounding: between Aristotle and Plato
Abstract
Are there “thin objects” whose existence does not make any substantial demand on the world? In my Thin Objects (OUP 2018) I defend an affirmative answer based on a Fregean form of abstraction. This talk develops two central aspects of the resulting view in a new and alternative way, using the notion of grounding. First, every truth about some thin objects is grounded in a truth that does not involve these objects. Second, the notorious “bad company problem” for abstractionism can be solved by insisting that every truth about the desired abstracta be grounded in a truth that is solely about some prior and independently available ontology. I explain how the resulting view is a form of “soft platonism” with some broadly Aristotelian features.
Last updated: January 10, 2023
Source: Department of Philosophy