Abstract objects

By Hale, Bob

The central philosophical question about abstract objects is: Are there any? An affirmative answer – given by Platonists or Realists – draws support from the fact that while ...

Materialism in the philosophy of mind

By Robinson, Howard

Materialism – which, for almost all purposes, is the same as physicalism – is the theory that everything that exists is material. Natural science shows that most things ...

Nominalism

By Guigon, Ghislain

‘Nominalism’ refers to a family of views about what there is. The objects we are familiar with (e.g. hands, laptops, cookies, and trees) can be characterized as concrete ...

Nihilism, metaphysical

By Coggins, Geraldine

Metaphysical nihilism is an answer to the question ‘could there have been nothing?’ In recent analytic philosophy this tends to be interpreted as ‘could there have been no ...

Materialism

By Stack, George J.

Materialism is a set of related theories which hold that all entities and processes are composed of – or are reducible to – matter, material forces or physical ...

Quine, Willard Van Orman (1908–2000)

By Orenstein, Alex

Quine is the foremost representative of naturalism in the second half of the twentieth century. His naturalism consists of an insistence upon a close connection or alliance between ...

Dance, aesthetics of

By McFee, Graham

The aesthetics of dance is the philosophical investigation of the nature of dance, of our interest in it, especially as an art form, and of the variety of ...

Idealism

By Sprigge, T.L.S.

Idealism is now usually understood in philosophy as the view that mind is the most basic reality and that the physical world exists only as an appearance to ...

Language, social nature of

By Smith, Barry C.

Language is mostly used in a social setting. We use it to communicate with others. We depend on others when learning language, and we constantly borrow one another’s ...

Fictional entities

By Lamarque, Peter

By ‘fictional entities’, philosophers principally mean those entities originating in and defined by myths, legends, fairy tales, novels, dramas and other works of fiction. In this sense unicorns, ...

Models in biology

By Odenbaugh, Jay

In recent years, much attention has been given by philosophers to the ubiquitous role of models and modelling in the biological sciences. Philosophical debate has focused on several ...

Meta-metaphysics

By Tahko, Tuomas E.

Meta-metaphysics concerns the nature and methodology of metaphysics and metaphysical inquiry. The emergence of meta-metaphysics as a systematic area of study is relatively recent, going back to the ...

Naturalized philosophy of mathematics

By Paseau, Alexander

There are three types of naturalism in the philosophy of mathematics: metaphysical, epistemological and methodological. Metaphysical naturalists maintain that all entities are natural. One reading of this claim ...

Simplicity, divine

By Leftow, Brian

To be complex is to have many parts. To be simple is to have few. Theists of all religious traditions have asserted that God is completely simple – ...

Computer science

By Winnie, John

At first sight, computers would seem to be of minimal philosophical importance; mere symbol manipulators that do the sort of things that we can do anyway, only faster ...

Existence

By Mackie, Penelope

Philosophical problems concerning existence fall under two main headings: ‘What is existence?’ and ‘What things exist?’. Although these questions cannot be entirely separated, this entry will concentrate on ...

Possible worlds

By Melia, Joseph

The concept of Possible worlds arises most naturally in the study of possibility and necessity. It is relatively uncontroversial that grass might have been red, or (to put ...

Gestalt psychology

By Smith, Barry

The term ‘Gestalt’ was introduced into psychology by the Austrian philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels. ‘Gestalt’, in colloquial German, means ‘shape’ or ‘structure’. Ehrenfels demonstrates in his essay of ...

Type/token distinction

By Wetzel, Linda

The type/token distinction is related to that between universals and particulars. C.S. Peirce introduced the terms ‘type’ and ‘token’, and illustrated the distinction by pointing to two senses ...

Psychologism

By Porta, Mario González

Psychologism is a form of reductionism, either of a certain discipline to psychology, or of a certain type of objects to psychological entities, whereby a certain consensus believes ...

Fictional entities

By ‘fictional entities’, philosophers principally mean those entities originating in and defined by myths, legends, fairy tales, novels, dramas and other works of fiction. In this sense unicorns, ...

Fictionalism in metaphysics

By Caddick Bourne, Emily

Fictionalism proposes that a certain discourse – such as talk about possible worlds, or mathematical talk – is useful, perhaps even indispensable for theoretical purposes, but should not ...

Objectivity

By Miller, Alexander

Objectivity is one of the central concepts of metaphysics. Philosophers distinguish between objectivity and agreement: ‘Ice-cream tastes nice’ is not objective merely because there is widespread agreement that ...

Objectivity

Objectivity is one of the central concepts of metaphysics. Philosophers distinguish between objectivity and agreement: ‘Ice-cream tastes nice’ is not objective merely because there is widespread agreement that ...

Hacking, Ian (1936–)

By Reijula, Samuli

Ian Hacking (born in 1936, Vancouver, British Columbia) is most well-known for his work in the philosophy of the natural and social sciences, but his contributions to philosophy ...