Metaphysics and Ontology Without Myths

Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4438-6391-9
Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 190 Seiten

Metaphysics and ontology feature among the traditional and fundamental concerns of philosophers. Gaining a picture of the world and the kind of objects that exist out there is for most philosophers (past and present) a preliminary aim upon which other theoretical activities depend. In fact, it seems that sound conclusions on topics relevant to ethics, aesthetics, psychology, and common and scientific knowledge can be achieved only after one has been given a picture of that sort.

What is worth stressing, though, is that from time to time the tribunal of history has managed to put its finger on some flawed conclusions. To take a time-worn example, who would now accept Plato’s claim that the spatiotemporal world is just an imperfect copy of a world of abstract objects conceived of as perfect unchanging models of concrete things? The picture Plato gave us is nothing but a myth—an account which is too far away from what common sense and science could accept, too detached from the usual ways of conducting a rational discussion. Therefore, pictures of this kind appear to be supported by nothing but dogmas, i.e. uncompromising principles taken as true without any previous critical analysis. And Plato has no shortage of company.

Issues of this kind revolving around metaphysics and ontology are tackled in the essays in this volume, which approach a secular debate in fresh and original ways, providing the necessary tools for clearing the field of unpalatable metaphysical and ontological items.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bacchini, Fabio

Caputo, Stefano

Dell'Utri, Massimo

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie

Über Autor(innen)

Fabio Bacchini is Professor of Epistemology at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Sassari, Italy. He has written on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, nanoethics, bioethics, and rational argumentation in ethics. His current research interests focus on philosophy of perception, mental causation, and the metaphysics of causation.

Stefano Caputo is Lecturer in Philosophy and Theory of Languages at the University of Sassari, Italy. He is the author of the book Fattori di verità (Truth-makers) (2005) and of several papers on the theory of truth, including “The Dependence of Truth on Being: Is there a Problem for Minimalism?” (2013), “Three Dilemmas for Alethic Functionalism” (2012), and “Truth-making: what it is not and what it could be” (2007).

Massimo Dell’Utri teaches Philosophy of Language at the University of Sassari, Italy. He wrote a book on Hilary Putnam’s realism, a book on alethic deflationism, and published a collection of essays on epistemology and metaphysics. His current research still focuses on epistemological and metaphysical issues, especially the concept of truth.