Metaontology

Intermediate

Undergraduate level. These articles introduce the formal machinery, work through the standard results, and set out the main positions with the objections that stuck to them.

Quinean MetaontologyPlanned
Van Inwagen's five theses, thin and thick conceptions of being, and what the orthodoxy commits you to
15 min
Debunking Ordinary ObjectsPlanned
Korman on whether our belief in tables and statues but not in trout-turkeys can survive its origins
16 min
Naturalised MetaphysicsPlanned
Ladyman and Ross's case against neo-scholastic metaphysics and the principle of naturalistic closure
15 min
The Price Is RightPlanned
Lewis's cost-benefit method in metaphysics and the worry that it cannot pick a winner
15 min