The Four-Category Ontology

A Metaphysical Foundation for Natural Science
Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-0-19-925439-2
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 526 g

comprehensive metaphysical system fully explained and defended
- Rigorous argument and close engagement with rival views and recent literature in its field
- Novel solutions to many outstanding problems in metaphysics and the philosophy of science
- Clearly written without unnecessary technicality, making it accessible to non-specialists and students
- Divided into four independently intelligible parts for readers who want to approach the book selectively
E. J. Lowe sets out and defends his theory of what there is. His four-category ontology is a metaphysical system that recognizes two fundamental categorial distinctions which cut across each other to generate four fundamental ontological categories. The distinctions are between the particular and the universal and between the substantial and the non-substantial. The four categories thus generated are substantial particulars, non-substantial particulars, substantial universals and non-substantial universals. Non-substantial universals include properties and relations, conceived as universals. Non-substantial particulars include property-instances and relation-instances, otherwise known as non-relational and relational tropes or modes. Substantial particulars include propertied individuals, the paradigm examples of which are persisting, concrete objects. Substantial universals are otherwise known as substantial kinds and include as paradigm examples natural kinds of persisting objects.

This ontology has a lengthy pedigree, many commentators attributing it to Aristotle on the basis of certain passages in his apparently early work, the Categories. At various times during the history of Western philosophy, it has been revived or rediscovered, but it has never found universal favour, perhaps on account of its apparent lack of parsimony as well as its commitment to universals. In pursuit of ontological economy, metaphysicians have generally preferred to recognize fewer than four fundamental ontological categories. However, Occam's razor stipulates only that we should not multiply entities beyond necessity; Lowe argues that the four-category ontology has an explanatory power unrivalled by more parsimonious systems, and that this counts decisively in its favour. He shows that it provides a powerful explanatory framework for a unified account of causation, dispositions, natural laws, natural necessity and many other related matters, such as the semantics of counterfactual conditionals and the character of the truthmaking relation. As such, it constitutes a thoroughgoing metaphysical foundation for natural science.

Contents
- I. Metaphysics, Ontology, and Logic
- 1 Ontological Categories and Categorical Schemes
- 2 The Four-Category Ontology and its Rivals
- 3 Some Formal Ontological Relations
- 4 Formal Ontology and Logical Syntax
- II. Objects and Properties
- 5 The Concept of an Object in Formal Ontology
- 6 Properties, Modes, and Universals
- 7 Ramsey's Problem and its Solution
- III. Metaphysics and Natural Science
- 8 Dispositions Natural Laws
- 9 Kinds, Essence, and Natural Necessity
- 10 Categorial Ontology and Scientific Essentialism
- IV. Truth, Truthmaking, and Metaphysical Realism
- 11 Metaphysical Realism and the Unity of Truth
- 12 Truthmaking, Necessity, and Essential Dependence

Zielgruppe

Scholars and students of philosophy

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lowe, E. J.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Wissenschaften: Theorie, Epistemologie, Methodik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie

Über Autor(innen)

E. J. Lowe, University of Durham