Nonexistent objects parsons pdf

The objects of thought is a rich book, full of ideas and arguments. According to zalta, there is a nonexistent object that corresponds to every set of properties, which encodes the properties in the set. Parsons s theory of nonexistent objects parsons1980 and my own theory of abstract objects zalta. Objects are identical just in case 1 they are both existent and. Sorry, we are unable to provide the full text but you may find it at the following locations. The present essay is a critical and comparative study of par sonss seminal and exciting work in this area. Fictional objects, nonexistence, and the principle of characterization article pdf available in philosophical studies 1591 may 2012 with 80 reads how we measure reads. The word titem is used instead of objects to indicate the ontic neutrality of. Before presenting parsons views, it will be worthwhile to place his approach to object theory in perspective. He received his phd from stanford university in 1966. He works on the semantics of natural language to develop theories of truth and meaning for natural language similar to those devised for artificial languages by philosophical logicians. Richard routleys exploring meinongs jungle and beyond is perhaps the most comprehensive and representative work in neomeinongianism. In parsons 1980, i talk about nuclear and extranuclear properties. One of the pioneering efforts was terence parsons s 1974 article, a prolegomenon to meinongian semantics parsons, 1974, which was followed by a series of articles in which he extended and elaborated his theory, culminating in his 1980 book, nonexistent objects parsons, 1980.

The question of chapter v is whether an object has an essence. This view, together with what has been said above, seems to entail although priest does not say so explicitly that nonexistent worlds are constituted partly by existent objects. Note that the simple dichotomy found in most approaches to presupposition between existent and nonexistent objects. Nonexistent objects notes stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Fulltext is available via jstor, for jstor subscribers. In this paper, the author replies to a question raised about theories of nonexistent objects. Nonexistent objects stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. First, we match objects against the sets of their properties. M4 existence is not a characterizing property of any object. On parsons theory, you dont get an existing golden mountain, since. Existence assumptions in knowledge representation 203 seemingly nonexistent entities. The present essay is a critical and comparative study of par. His reductionism claims that, even though we can truly talk about nonexistent objects by. Referring to fictional characters stanford university.

Are there nonexistent objects free download as pdf file. Because of this, according to these contemporary meinongians, nonexistent objects can be involved in the truthmakers of sentences such as sherlock holmes is possible and so on. Against a defense of fictional realism by ben caplan and cathleen muller according to. Moreover, kit fine has argued for a somewhat similar claim. For pegasus, for instance, exists in those worlds which are such as described in greek mythology. Wiley on behalf of the american society for aesthetics. An objective in any case can be as much an object of thought as any other nonobjective object, as when someone thinks about the fact that graz is in austria, and thereby makes that state of affairs an object of thought. Nonexistent objects terence parsons yale university press new haven 1980. When every existing object has been listed, we carry.

Zalta center for the study of language and information stanford university abstract. Parsons gives two reasons for believing that there are nonexistent objects. Routley aims at presenting a meinonginspired theory of items and at showing the advantages of such a theory within. On parsons theory, the round square is asserted to be an impossible object. How the dead live how the dead live connolly, niall 20100615 00. Meinongs reference to a golden mountain discussed previously by hume and berkeley is developed as an analogy for meinongs object theory reference domain of existent and nonexistent objects alike, without regard for their ontic status, in accord with meinongs doctrine of the au. Nonexistent objects notes stanford encyclopedia of. Nonexistent objects by terence parsons next article. On the semantics of existence predicates friederike moltmann ihpst paris1 enscnrs, paris abstract the most common philosophical view about the notion of existence is that it is a secondorder property or existential quantification. Although its central claimthat there are such things as nonexistent objects is itself the central claim of meinongs own theory of objects, nonexistent objects henceforth, no is neither an exposition, nor a sus. Nonexistent objects i did not explore this meinongian theme, because i did not. I24 6 real things in fiction, logical completeness, and other forms of represent ation 129 are stories about real things.

Parsons s quinean meinongianism and the methodology of nonexistence ii2 are there really nonexistent objects. Nonexistent objects terence parsons new haven and london. Parsons is also a professor at ucla in its department of philosophy. This paper explores the view that there are such things as nonexistent fictional objects, and that we refer to such objects when we say things like sherlock holmes is a fictional detective, or conan doyle wrote about sherlock holmes. Nonexistent objects terence parsons national library. A less common view is that existence is a firstorder. If the dead number among the things there are, a further question arises.

In this sense, the theory of objects, of lower and higher order. Parsons 1980, natural language may, in principle, use intensional verbs and quantifiers 3 1 besides worship, which has been cited as an intensional verb by montague 1969, fear. Alexius meinong advocated a bold new theory of nonexistent objects, where we could gain knowledge and assert true claims of things that did not exist. Terence parsons and dale jacquette are two contemporary proponents of this strategy. Intensional verbs and quantifiers friederike moltmann. Recently, tim crane has proposed a weak form of meinongianism, a reductionism, which denies any contribution of nonexistent objects to truthmaking. Robert howell, nonexistent objects by terence parsons. Access to this document requires a subscription or membership. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Nonexistent objects are just as much titems as existent ones. Search for library items search for lists search for contacts search for a library. Publication date 1980 topics nonexistent objects philosophy publisher new haven. Priest claims that nonactual worlds themselves are nonexistent objects.

My intent is to show that talking about nonexistent objects and hence representing them, quantifying over them, and reasoning about themis quite a normal thing to do in natural language. For example, some nonexistent objects instantiate such properties as being incomplete, being possible, being thought of by someone, and so on. Chapter vi examines the socalled problem of transworld identity, widely thought to afflict the view that the same object exists in more. Article pdf available in philosophical studies 451 january 1984 with 144 reads. Nonexistent objects by terence parsons and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at.

Heavily influenced by alexius meinong, he wrote nonexistent objects 1980, which dealt with possible world theory in order to defend the reality of nonexistent objects. M3 non existent objects are constituted in one way or another. On the other side are upholders of what i call ameinongianism, who revise meinongs distinctions between existence and nonexistence in terms of being concrete and being abstract and claim that nonexistent objects are. Presented at the american phlosophical association, pacific division meetings, sacramento, march 1982. The dangerous implications of nonexistent objects carolyn swanson abstract. These additional sets correlate with nonexistent objects, e. Making room for non existent objects is a complicated business, and crane covers a lot of ground very clearly. Parsons s 1974 article, a prolegomenon to meinongian seman tics parsons, 1974, which was followed by a series of articles in which he extended and elaborated his theory, culminating in his 1980 book, nonexistent objects parsons, 1980. So this is a great book for anyone who wishes to get a sophisticated overview of the debate about non existent objects. Moved by such considerations, terence parsons sets out to clarify the nature of nonexistent objects by means of.