Entities Chris Swoyer Penultimate draft of a paper for Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics, eds., Theodore Sider, John Hawthorne, and Dean W. Zimmerman, Blackwell, 2008; pp 1-31. One of the most puzzling topics for newcomers to metaphysics is the debate over the existence and nature of abstract entities, things like numbers (seven), sets (the set of even numbers), properties (triangularity), an...

According to Heraclitus, panta rhei — everything is in flux. But what gives that flux its form is the logos — the words or signs that enable us to perceive patterns in the flux, remember them, talk about them, and take action upon them even while we ourselves are part of the flux we are acting in and on. Modern physics is essentially a theory of flux in which the ultimate building blocks of mat...

In this paper, I argue that the indispensability argument unifies all of Hilary Putnam’s diverse work in the philosophy of mathematics. I also argue that his version of the indispensability argument does not justify knowledge of mathematical objects. I first characterize indispensability arguments in the philosophy of mathematics, distilling them to four essential characteristics. I show that t...

According to Heraclitus, panta rhei — everything is in flux. But what gives that flux its form is the logos — the words or signs that enable us to perceive patterns in the flux, remember them, talk about them, and take action upon them even while we ourselves are part of the flux we are acting in and on. Modern physics is essentially a theory of flux in which the ultimate building blocks of mat...