Ontology and Metaontology: A Contemporary Guide

265 Pages·2015·1.11 MB·English

by  Francesco Berto, Matteo Plebani

Ontology and
Metaontology
AlsO AvAilAble frOM blOOMsbury
Heidegger, Ethics and the Practice of Ontology, David Webb
Metaphysics: An Introduction, Jonathan Tallant
Pragmatist Metaphysics, Sami Pihlström
Quine: A Guide for the Perplexed, Gary Kemp
Quine’s Naturalism, Paul A. Gregory
The Bloomsbury Companion to Metaphysics,
edited by Neil A. Manson and Robert W. Barnard
The Bloomsbury Companion to Philosophical Logic,
edited by Leon Horsten and Richard Pettigrew
The Science, Politics, and Ontology of Life-Philosophy,
edited by Scott Campbell and Paul W. Bruno
Transcendental Ontology, Markus Gabriel
Ontology and
Metaontology
A Contemporary Guide
francesco berto and
Matteo Plebani
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway
London New York
WC1B 3DP NY 10018
UK USA
www.bloomsbury.com
BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2015
© Francesco Berto and Matteo Plebani 2015
Francesco Berto and Matteo Plebani have asserted their right under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Authors of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior
permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or
refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be
accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4411-9195-3
PB: 978-1-4411-8289-0
ePDF: 978-1-4725-7329-2
ePub: 978-1-4725-7330-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berto, Francesco.
Ontology and metaontology: a contemporary guide/Francesco Berto and Matteo Plebani.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4411-9195-3 (hardback)–ISBN 978-1-4411-8289-0 (pbk.)–ISBN 978-1-4725-7330-8 (epub)
–ISBN 978-1-4725-7329-2 (epdf) 1. Ontology. I. Plebani, Matteo. II. Title.
BD311.B47 2015
111–dc23
2014021253
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
To our parents, who made us part of what there is.
vi
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
introduction: What is Ontology? What is
Metaontology?
1
Part i Quinean Metaontology
1 On Denoting
15
2 1948: On What There is
23
3 The standard view
34
Part ii Alternative Metaontologies
4 Ontological Pluralism and Neo-fregeanism
55
5 Carnap’s view of Ontology and Neo-Carnapians
68
6 fictionalism
83
7 Meinongianism
99
8 The Grounding Approach
113
Part iii Ontology
9 Abstract Objects i: Numbers & Co.
123
10 Abstract Objects ii: linguistic Types, Propositions
and values
152
viii Contents
11 Possible Worlds
163
12 Material Objects
181
13 fictional Objects
199
14 beyond Particulars: Properties and events
211
References 229
Author Index 241
Subject Index 244
Acknowledgements
We are most grateful to Doug Edwards, David Liggins, Tuomas Tahko, Stephan
Torre, Achille Varzi and Alberto Voltolini for their helpful comments and remarks
on various parts of this book. The division of labour for it has been as follows: we
wrote the Introduction together. Chapters 1, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12 and 13 were written by
Francesco Berto. Chapters 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 14 were written by Matteo Plebani. We
reviewed each other’s chapters.
Parts of Chapters 1, 3, and 7 draw on Chapters 2 and 4–6 of Francesco Berto’s Synthèse
Library book Existence as a Real Property. Thanks to Springer for allowing us to use
that material.
Parts of Chapter 9 draw on Matteo Plebani’s survey of nominalistic strategies in the
philosophy of mathematics (‘Nominalismo in filosofia della matematica’) for the
online journal Aphex. Thanks to the editors for allowing us to use that material.
Parts of Chapter 11 come from Francesco Berto’s entry ‘Impossible Worlds’ for
the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Thanks to the editors, and particularly to
Ed Zalta, for allowing us to reuse that material.