objects | mathematics, philosophy of | mathematics, philosophy of: indispensabilityarguments in the | mathematics, philosophy of: Platonism | nominalism: in metaphysics |ontological commitment | Platonism: in metaphysics | plural quantification | Quine, Willardvan Orman

The paper inquiries into Brandom’s conception of pragmatistic metaphysics, as outlined at the end of Between Saying and Doing. In the reconstruction proposed, the combination of pragmatism and analytical philosophy that is at the basis of Brandom’s program seems to have many aspects in common with the critical and dialectical conception of metaphysics that we find in Kant and Hegel. My paper is...

I propose a theory of space with infinitesimal regions called smooth geometry (SIG) based on certain algebraic objects (i.e., rings), which regiments mode reasoning heuristically used by geometricists and physicists (e.g., circle is composed infinitely many straight lines). argue that SIG has the following utilities. (1) It provides simple metaphysics vector fields tangent are otherwise perplex...

Necessity abounds. There are the necessary truths of logic, mathematics and metaphysics, the necessary connections among events in the natural world, the necessary or unconditional principles of ethics, and many other forms of necessary truth or connection. But how much diversity is there to this abundance? Are all necessary truths and connections reducible to a single common form of necessity?...

CONTENTS 1. McMullin on revolutions Initial statement. McMullin's challenges McMullin's own epistemology: retroduction My own question for Ernan 2. Empiricism vs Metaphysics Initial statement. Impossibility of a thesis driven critique Critique indeed value-driven, in part How can a stance provide an effective critique? Jauernig: the values involved Analogy to a moral stance How does this apply ...

or speculative to be considered a science of sincere importance. This is because in Metaphysics, there is no set of superior or empirical observations, nor, is there a valid set of logical arguments which could definitively prove metaphysical axioms to be either true or false. Therefore, a metaphysical truth usually implies a belief about the perceived environment or world. Nevertheless, what m...