Nostalgia for the ordinary: Comments on papers by Unger and Wheeler

Synthese 41 (2):175 - 184 (1979)
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Abstract

Unger claims that we can block sorites arguments for the conclusion that there are no ordinary things only by invoking some kind of miracle, but no such miracle is needed if we reject the principle that every statement has a truth value. Wheeler's argument for the nonexistence of ordinary things depends on the assumptions that if ordinary things exist, they comprise real kinds, and that if ordinary predicates really apply to things, the predicates refer to real properties. If we accept Wheeler's criteria for the reality of kinds and properties, we have no good reason to accept these assumptions.

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David Sanford
Duke University

Citations of this work

Ordinary objects.Daniel Z. Korman - 2011 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Object.Bradley Rettler & Andrew M. Bailey - 2017 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 1.
Sorites.Bertil Rolf - 1984 - Synthese 58 (2):219 - 250.
Object.Henry Laycock - 2010 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Vague numbers.David H. Sanford - 2002 - Acta Analytica 17 (2):63-73.

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References found in this work

There are no ordinary things.Peter Unger - 1979 - Synthese 41 (2):117 - 154.
There Are No Ordinary Things.Peter Unger - 1994 - In Delia Graff & Timothy Williamson (eds.), Vagueness. London and New York: Ashgate. pp. 117-154.
On that which is not.Samuel C. Wheeler - 1979 - Synthese 41 (2):155 - 173.

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