Hartry Field defended the importance of his nominalist reformulation of Newtonian Gravitational Theory, as a response to the indispensability argument on the basis of a general principle of intrinsic explanation. In this paper, I argue that this principle is not sufficiently defensible, and can not do the work for which Field uses it. I argue first that the model for Field’s reformulation, Hilb...

The alleged dichotomy between industrial and consumer marketing is logically weak and poorly supported by empirical evidence. The science of taxonomy is highly developed in other fields of study. The industrial/consumer dichotomy fails to meet the criteria for a logically based taxonomic framework. Scientific effort should be directed towards the development of valid marketing classifications b...

ion principles are crucial for the neo-Fregean. But which principles are acceptable? The notion of stability 11/4/10 10:42 PM Oxford Bibliographies Online Mathematics, Philosophy of Page 9 of 16 http://www.oxfordbibliographiesonline.com/display/id/obo-9780195396577-0069 offers a promising response; roughly speaking, an abstraction principle is acceptable just in case it is satisfiable in all do...

The basic realist claim is that a mind-independent reality exists. It should be common sense knowledge to accept this claim, just as any theories that try to deny it soon become inconsistent because reality strikes back. In spite of this, antirealist philosophies flourish, not only in philosophy but also in the behavioral and cognitive sciences and in information science. This is highly problem...

ion, the logical hierarchy of the stages of universality, and indeed also there, where the relationships of domination are caused to mask themselves behind democratic procedures. The Juridical Sphere 303-305 Following the Phenomenology and the Logic, Hegel drove the cult of the course of the world the furthest in the Philosophy of Law. The medium, in which what is bad is preserved for the sake ...

We discuss that how the majority of traditional modeling approaches are following the idealism point of view in scientific modeling, which follow the set theoretical notions of models based on abstract universals. We show that while successful in many classical modeling domains, there are fundamental limits to the application of set theoretical models in dealing with complex systems with many p...

This seems t o me t o be one o f t h e most d i f f i c u l t problems in repres en t a t ion theory a t present . The only way I can imagine handling substances is by regarding each substance a s a ( spec i a l s o r t o f ) indivi dual, t o which such p rope r t i e s a s hardness, dens i ty , e t c . a r e a t t r i bu t ed . These individuals can be regarded as p la ton ic i d e a l s , o r...

The paper addresses the solution to the problem of individuation suggested by Leibniz’s later writings and how this relates to the contemporary metaphysical debate. In the first section I introduce the problem of individuality along with the solution Leibniz proposed in his later writings. The second section analyzes Leibniz’s solution in a contemporary perspective. I argue that, unlike during ...

Successful ontological analysis depends upon having the right underlying theory. The work described here, exploring how to understand organisations as systems of social norms found that the familiar objectivist position did not work, eventually replacing it with a radically subjectivist ontology which treats every thing, relationship and attribute as a repertoire of behaviour as understood by s...

Philosophy of mathematics for the last half-century has been dominated in one way or another by Quine’s indispensability argument. The argument alleges that our best scientific theory quantifies over, and thus commits us to, mathematical objects. In this paper, I present new considerations which undermine the most serious challenge to Quine’s argument, Hartry Field’s reformulation of Newtonian ...