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[Fizinfo] TUDOMANYFILOZOFIA SZEMINARIUM, Z. S z a b o

From: László E.Szabó <leszabo AT hps.elte.hu>
To: fizinfo AT lists.kfki.hu, mafla AT hps.elte.hu, koglist <koglist AT cogpsyphy.hu>, Istvan Nemeti <nemeti AT math-inst.hu>, Huoranszki Ferenc <Huoransz AT CEU.HU>, Forrai Gabor <forrai AT isis.elte.hu>, Miklos Lehmann <lehmann AT phil-inst.hu>, karsaigabor <karsaigabor AT osiris.elte.hu>, farkas kati <kfarkas AT isis.elte.hu>, ambrusgergely <ambrus AT osiris.elte.hu>, gerebyjr <gerebyjr AT isis.elte.hu>, "nánay bence" <nanay AT ella.hu>, "újvári márta" <marta.ujvari AT PHIL.BKE.HU>, "laki jános" <h13318lak AT ella.hu>, "margitay tihamér" <tmargitay AT olap.hu>, "novák zsolt" <novak AT osiris.elte.hu>, "szalai miklós" <szalaim AT hotmail.com>, Barry Loewer <loewer AT rci.rutgers.edu>, Katalin Balog <kbalog AT rci.rutgers.edu>, matolcsi <matolcsi AT ludens.elte.hu>, " Katalin G. Havas" <h6705gal AT ella.hu>
Subject: [Fizinfo] TUDOMANYFILOZOFIA SZEMINARIUM, Z. S z a b o
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 05:51:40 +0100

ELTE TTK Tudomanytortenet es Tudomanyfilozofia Tanszek
Budapest, Pazmany P. setany 1/A

TUDOMANYFILOZOFIA SZEMINARIUM
(http://hps.elte.hu/seminar)
________________________________________________
Marcius 20
12:30
6. em. 6.54

Z o l t a n S z a b o
Cornell University

Ontological commitment

On what basis can we say that someone admits into his ontology numbers,
mental states, propositions, events, or other dubious entities? The
classical answer to this question is due to Quine: ontological
commitment to Fs (where 'F' is an arbitrary one-place predicate) is the
acceptance of the truth a theory that logically entails that there are
Fs. In my talk I will argue against this Quinean position. I will
contend that for some predicates 'F' it is possible for a rational and
reflective person to believe that there are Fs and at the same time not
to believe in Fs. If my contention is correct, there might be a way to
articulate ontological doubts regarding certain sorts of problematic
entities without repudiating our scientific and commonsense views which
demand their existence.

A szeminarium szervezoje: E. Szabo Laszlo
--
Laszlo E. Szabo
Department of Theoretical Physics
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos University, Budapest
H-1518 Budapest, Pf. 32.
Phone: (36-1)2090-555/6671
Fax: (36-1)372-2509
Home: (36-1)200-7318
http://hps.elte.hu/~leszabo

[Fizinfo] TUDOMANYFILOZOFIA SZEMINARIUM, Z. S z a b o, László E . Szabó, 03/14/2000