The furniture of the world

Abstract

of Ontology I.- 1. Ontological Problems.- 2. The Business of Ontology.- 3. Is Ontology Possible?.- 4. The Method of Scientific Ontology.- 5. The Goals of Scientific Ontology.- 6. Ontology and Formal Science.- 7. The Ontology of Science.- 8. Ontological Inputs and Outputs of Science and Technology.- 9. Uses of Ontology.- 10. Concluding Remarks.- 1. Substance.- 1. Association.- 1.1 Concatenation and its Ontological Interpretation.- 1.2. Axiomatic Foundation of Association Theory.- 1.3. Consequences.- 1.4. Atom Aggregates.- 1.5. Clustering.- 1.6. Historical Remark.- 2. Assembly.- 2.1. Juxtaposition and Superposition: Intuitive Idea.- 2.2. Formalization.- 2.3. Definitions.- 2.4. Some Consequences.- 2.5. Atoms and Levels.- 2.6. Alternative Formalizations.- 2.7. Concluding Remarks.- 3. Entities and Sets.- 3.1. The Null Individual and the World.- 3.2. Entities and Concepts.- 3.3. Existence and Individuation.- 4. Concluding Remarks.- 2. Form.- 1. Property and Attribute.- 1.1. Difference between Property and Attribute.- 1.2. Attribute-Property Correspondence.- 2. Analysis.- 2.1. Property in General and Property of a Particular.- 2.2. Intrinsic and Mutual, Primary and Secondary.- 3. Theory.- 3.1. Unarization and Dichotomization.- 3.2. Basic Assumptions and Conventions.- 3.3. Laws as Properties.- 3.5. Similarity.- 3.6. Indiscernibility.- 4. Properties of Properties.- 4.1. Identity and Difference of Properties.- 4.2. Property Weight.- 4.3. Resultants and Emergents.- 4.4. Properties of Properties.- 5. Status of Properties.- 5.1. The Reality of Properties.- 5.2. A Critique of Platonism.- 5.3. The Problem of Universals.- 6. Concluding Remarks.- 3. Thing.- 1. Thing and Model Thing.- 1.1. Thing: Definition.- 1.2. Assumptions.- 1.3. Thing and Construct.- 1.4. Model Thing.- 2. State.- 2.1. Centrality of the State Concept.- 2.2. State Function.- 2.3. Law Statements as Restrictions on State Functions.- 2.4. State Space: Preliminaries.- 2.5. Definition of a State Space.- 2.6. Equivalent Representations of States.- 2.7. State and State Preparation.- 2.8. Concluding Remarks.- 3. From Class to Natural Kind.- 3.1. Classes of Things.- 3.2. Ideals and Filters of Classes of Things.- 3.3. Kinds and Species.- 3.4. The Algebra of Kinds.- 3.5. Variety.- 4. The World.- 4.1. What Does the World Consist in and of?.- 4.2. Individuals, Populations, Communities, and Species.- 4.3. Existence Concepts.- 4.4. Nothingness and Virtual Existence.- 4.5. Existence Criteria.- 5. Concluding Remarks.- 4. Possibility.- 1. Conceptual Possibility.- 1.1. Possibility Concepts.- 1.2. Four Concepts of Conceptual Possibility.- 1.3. Conceptual Possibility: Relative.- 2. Real Possibility.- 2.1. Fact.- 2.2. Chrysippian Possibility.- 2.3. Real Possibility as Lawfulness.- 2.4. Factual Necessity.- 2.5. Possibility Criteria.- 3. Disposition.- 3.1. Intuitive Idea.- 3.2. Elucidation.- 3.3. Potency and Act.- 3.4. Unrealized Possibilities and Counterfactuals.- 4. Probability.- 4.1. Abstract Concept.- 4.2. Probability State Space.- 4.3. Propensity Interpretation.- 5. Chance Propensity.- 5.1. Irreducible Potentialities.- 5.2. Analysis.- 5.3. Upshot.- 6. Marginalia.- 6.1. Modal Logic and Real Possibility.- 6.2. Possible Worlds Metaphysics.- 6.3. Modality and Probability.- 6.4. Randomness.- 6.5. Probability and Causality.- 6.6. The Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.- 7. Concluding Remarks.- 5. Change.- 1. Changeability.- 1.1. Preliminaries.- 1.2. Changeability.- 2. Event.- 2.1. The Ordered Pair Representation of Events.- 2.2. The Event Space.- 2.3. The Representation of Processes.- 2.4. The Space of Lawful Events.- 2.5. Keeping Track of Changing States.- 2.6. Rate, Extent, and Change Potential.- 3. Process.- 3.1. Serial Change: Types.- 3.2. General Concepts and Principles.- 4. Action and Reaction.- 4.1. Induced Change.- 4.2. Aggregates and Systems.- 4.3. Reference Frame.- 5. Panta Rhei.- 5.1. Fact.- 5.2. Dynamicism.- 5.3. Interconnectedness.- 5.4. Three Misconceptions.- 6. Concluding Remarks.- 6. Spacetime.- 1. Conflicting Views.- 1.1. The Three Main Views.- 1.2. Approaches to Chronotopics Building.- 2. Space.- 2.1. Interposition.- 2.2. A Philosopher's Space.- 2.3. The Physicist's Space.- 2.4. Bulk and Shape.- 2.5. Concluding Remarks.- 3. Duration.- 3.1. Intuitive Idea.- 3.2. Before and After.- 3.3. Duration.- 4. Spacetime.- 4.1. Spacetime, the Basic Network of Events.- 4.2. Position in Spacetime.- 4.3. Change in Spacetime.- 5. Spatiotemporal Properties.- 5.1. Does Spacetime have any Properties?.- 5.2. Time Reversal and Process Reversibility.- 5.3. Antecedence (Causality) Principle.- 5.4. Action by Contact.- 5.5. Spatiotemporal Contiguity.- 5.6. The Causal Relation.- 6. Matters of Existence.- 6.1. Existence in Space and Time.- 6.2. Existence of Space and Time.- 7. Concluding Remarks.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.

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