Existence World Cl (Problems Of Philosophy Their Past And Present)

In Plato's Sophist, Socrates describes a battle between the Giants and Gods. On the one side, there are philosophers who 'affirm that real existence belongs only to that which can be handled and offers resistance to the touch.' On the other side, the Gods of Plato's dialogues affirm that 'true reality consists in certain intelligible and bodily forms'. The history of Western philosophy can be seen as a battle between those who insist that only the physical universe exists and those who claim that there is a much 'larger' world which contains atemporal and nonspatial things as well. What distinguishes the former, the 'naturalists', from the latter, the 'ontologists', is ultimately the rejection or acceptance of atemporal or nonspatial existents.The central part of the book, and the battle, concerns the existence of universals. Starting with the medieval definition of the issue found in Porphyry and Boethius, the author then considers modern and contemporary versions of the fight. He concludes that what is at stake between the naturalists and the ontologists is the existence and nature of a number of important categories.These categories, such as structures, relations, sets, numbers and facts are discussed, and it is shown how different views about these categories are shaped by the positions different philosophers take in the battle between naturalists and ontologists. The final section of the book considers two features of the world which transcend the categories, existence and negation. The author examines and explains various attempts to accommodate these features in the world of the ontologist. This excellent introduction to ontology succeeds in stating clearly the important debate that underlies the question 'what exists?'. That it is able to do so in a systematic and readable fashion makes it indispensable for anyone with an interest in ontology and metaphysics.