Re: [ontolog-forum] Truth

[Chris Menzel <chris.menzel@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Jul 6, 2012 at 9:53 AM, Pat Hayes <phayes@xxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jul 5, 2012, at 7:03 AM, John F Sowa wrote:
> After the discussions in this thread last week, I browsed through
> some papers by Peter van Inwagen, a philosopher who writes about
> ontology and related topics:
>
>    http://andrewmbailey.com/pvi/
>    Papers by Peter van Inwagen

> ...

> DL with horses:
>> One and the same horseness recurs; it is multiply located; it is wholly
>> present in both horses, a shared common part whereby the two horses
>> overlap.  Being alike by sharing horsenesss is ‘having something in
>> common’ in an absolutely literal sense.
>
> A biologist would say that the two horses contain copies of the same
> kind of DNA.  But the DNA is a "concrete particular", not a universal.
> Each horse has its own DNA, and there is no overlap.  Van Inwagen said
>
> PvI
>> Such talk bewilders me to a degree I find it hard to covey.

I like this man :-)

Pat

van Inwagen is in my view the foremost contemporary American metaphysician (although he's a bit less formal than I'd prefer when it comes to ontology). He's really terrific.

-chris

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