Categories of Being Essays on Metaphysics and Logic

by Haaparanta, Leila; Koskinen, Heikki J.

• ISBN13: 9780199890576
• ISBN10: 0199890579
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-07-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This edited volume is a comprehensive presentation of views on the relations between metaphysics and logic from Aristotle through twentieth century philosophers who contributed to the return of metaphysics in the analytic tradition. The collection combines interest in logic and its history with interest in analytical metaphysics and the history of metaphysical thought. By so doing, it adds both to the historical understanding of metaphysical problems and to contemporary research in the field. Throughout the volume, essays focus on metaphysica generalis, or the systematic study of the most general categories of being. Beginning with Aristotle and his Categories , the volume goes on to trace metaphyscis and logic through the late ancient and Arabic traditions, examining the views of Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and William Ockham. Moving into the early modern period, contributors engage with Leibniz's metaphysics, Kant's critique of metaphysics, the relation between logic and ontology in Hegel, and Bolzano's views. Subsequent chapters address: Charles S. Peirce's logic and metaphysics; the relevance of set-theory to metaphysics; Meinong's theory of objects; Husserl's formal ontology; early analytic philosophy; C.I. Lewis and his relation to Russell; and the relations between Frege, Carnap, and Heidegger. Surveying metaphysics through to the contemporary age, essays explore W.V. Quine's attitude towards metaphysics; Wilfrid Sellars's relation to antidescriptivism as it connects to Kripke's; the views of Putnam and Kaplan; Peter F. Strawson's and David M. Armstrong's metaphysics; Trope theory; and its relation to Popper's conception of three worlds. The volume ends with a chapter on transcendental philosophy as ontology. In each chapter, contributors approach their topics not merely in an historical and exegetical fashion, but also engage critically with the thought of the philosophers whose work they discuss, offering synthesis and original philosophical thought in the volume, in addition to very extensive and well-informed analysis and interpretation of important philosophical texts. The volume will serve as an essential reference for scholars of metaphysics and logic.

Author Biography

Leila Haaparanta is Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy at the University of Tampere.

Heikki J. Koskinen is Research Doctor at the Academy of Finland.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Leila Haaparanta and Heikki J. Koskinen
Chapter 1. Being, Categories, and Universal Reference in Aristotle, Michael J. Loux
Chapter 2. Dividing Being: Before and After Avicenna, Taneli Kukkonen
Chapter 3. The Metaphysics of the Categories in John Duns Scotus, Simo Knuuttila
Chapter 4. Ockham on Being, Calvin Normore
Chapter 5. Leibniz (and Ockham) on the Language of Thought or How the True Metaphysics is Derived from the True Logic, Henrik Lagerlund
Chapter 6. The Critique of Pure Reason as Metaphysics, Olli Koistinen
Chapter 7. The Relation of Logic to Ontology in Hegel, Paul Redding
Chapter 8. Bolzano's Universe: Metaphysics, Logic and Truth, Arianna Betti
Chapter 9. Charles S. Peirce: Pragmatism, Logic, and Metaphysics, Torjus Midtgarden
Chapter 10. Georg Cantor's Paradise, Metaphysics, and Husserlian Logic, Claire Ortiz Hill
Chapter 11. To be and/or not to be: The Objects of Meinong and Husserl, Peter Simons
Chapter 12. Logic and Metaphysics in Early Analytic Philosophy, Michael Beaney
Chapter 13. Logic, Modality, and Metaphysics in Early Analytic Philosophy: C. I. Lewis against Russell, Sanford Shieh
Chapter 14. On "Being" and Being: Frege between Carnap and Heidegger, Leila Haaparanta
Chapter 15. Quine, Predication, and the Categories of Being, Heikki J. Koskinen
Chapter 16. Wilfrid Sellars' Anti-Descriptivism, Kevin Scharp
Chapter 17. Strawson's Descriptive Metaphysics, Hans-Johann Glock
Chapter 18. D. M. Armstrong and the Recovery of Ontology, Keith Campbell
Chapter 19. On Tropic Realism, Ilkka Niiniluoto
Chapter 20. Transcendental Philosophy as Ontology, Sami Pihlström