Metaphysics

Question 1

3 main tasks of general ontology:

• Nature of existence
• general principles of being
• categorical analysis

Answer 1

Existence, pile of sand:

the grains of sand have independent existence, while the pile of sand has dependent existence.

Question 2

Existence:

a property that is possessed by something in reality

Answer 2

Modes of being:
being is a general category, existence is one mode of being. Fictional objects have being, but don’t possess the mode of existence.
Craig/Moreland find this view inadequate because they claim the idea of modes or percentages do not apply to being. Law of excluded middle: an object either exists or doesn’t exist.

Question 3

Meaning identity statements:

referring expressions are synonymous: all bachelors are unmarried.

Answer 3

Referential/name identity statements:

referents use diverse names. Water is H2O - expresses truth about the world.

Question 4

Contingent identity statements: not necessarily true identical statements. “My favourite colour is blue/my favorite color is the color of the sky.” However, modally, the sky could be green.

Answer 4

Metalinguistic account (Frege):
Refers to identity statements, not identity relations.
1. Eric is Eric.
2. Eric is Everett’s father.
Not identical. 1. isn’t informative. 2. is empirically informative. Also, 2. is a contingent truth, while 1. is necessary.

Question 5

For the compatibilist, the only type of causation is called event-event (also called state-state) causation. The only kind of entities that can be put into the causal relation are events.

Answer 5

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