The pseudonym "Philo Vaihinger" has been abandoned. All posts have been and are written by me, Joseph Auclair.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Gratuitous ontology

Things believed without reason, proof, or warrant.

By no means an exhaustive list.

Of contingent things

I am a continuing being and the unique subject of all (my) experience.

There is a given in my present experience with respect to which my present beliefs are always all but certainly right.

(My) Memories are generally true, and the more likely so the more recent what is remembered.

There are others beings that are subjects of experience; some of them are people, but others are animals that are not people.

Nothing is (part of) the experience of more than one subject.

Of necessary things

There is one unique way things are; they are thus and not otherwise.

There are many ways things could be or could have been; these ways are parsed into properties, states of affairs, and possible worlds.

There are things that could have been but are not, never have been, and never will be.

There are things that are but needn’t have been, or were not, or will not be.

Necessary things are timeless [or are they just everlasting? 7/27/17]; otherwise [or not? 7/27/17], all the things that are are now.

The ways things are or could be or could have been are necessary.

Some things were but are not; some things will be but are not.

Time is the form of contingency [or of being? 7/27/17].

There is a unique actual world; there is a unique now.

Logical determinism is true; i.e., all contingent propositions are true or else false, whether about the past, the present, or the future.

There are propositions; they are timeless [or eternal? 7/27/17] whether or not tenseless; they are necessary whether or not necessarily true or necessarily false.

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