Dear Pat, (01)
> On Feb 11, 2009, at 2:16 AM, Matthew West wrote:
>
> > Dear John,
> >
> >> Chris,
> >>
> >> I agree that Quine admitted sets into his ontology.
> >>
> >> CM> If, however, you mean someone who rejects the existence
> >>> of all abstract entities across the board, then Quine was
> >>> no nominalist, as he argued that quantification over
> >>> mathematical objects (specifically, sets) is indispensable
> >>> to science.
> >>
> >> But Alonzo Church, who allowed much richer abstract objects
> >> into his ontology, delivered a wonderful talk at Harvard with
> >> the explicit intention of annoying Quine and Nelson Goodman:
> >>
> >> http://www.jfsowa.com/ontology/church.htm
> >> The ontological status of women and abstract entities
> >
> > [MW] I think there are two different questions here:
> >
> > 1. Are there certain things like e.g. numbers and possible worlds?
> >
> > 2. Are they abstract or concrete?
> >
> > Even the first may be controversial, but even if you agree that
> > these things
> > exist, whether they are considered abstract or not is a different
> > question
> > (and arguably more controversial).
>
> Whether they exist or not, I think you have to say that numbers are
> not concrete. You can't weigh seven.
>
[MW] I quite agree. I am waiting with interest what the answer to that one
is, I think I know what most of the other answers will be. (02)
Regards (03)
Matthew West
Information Junction
Tel: +44 560 302 3685
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http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/ (04)
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