Higher-Order Metaphysics

by Peter Fritz (Editor), Nicholas K. Jones (Editor)

Overview

This volume explores the use of higher-order logics in metaphysics. Higher-order logics are natural extensions of the common systems of predicate logic, with a history going back to the very beginnings of formal logic. Such logics are well suited to formalize metaphysical views and arguments. Over the last decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in higher-order metaphysics.

Seventeen original essays are grouped under five headings. Three introductory chapters present higher-order languages and motivate their use in metaphysics. Three chapters on pure higher-order metaphysics discuss different options of higher-order languages and logics which may be used in metaphysics. Three chapters on applied higher-order metaphysics consider the application of higher-order logic to various central topics of metaphysics. Three historical chapters trace the development of higher-order logic as it relates to metaphysics over the last 150 years. The volume concludes with a discussion, containing two chapters criticizing the use of higher-order logic in metaphysics, as well as responses to these criticisms by two authors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192894885
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/21/2024
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Peter Fritz, Professor of Philosophy, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Nicholas K. Jones, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Oxford

Peter Fritz is Professor of Philosophy at the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University, and at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo. He studied philosophy and logic at the Universities of Konstanz, Amsterdam, and Oxford, and works on logic, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language.


Nicholas K. Jones is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, as well as Official Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St John's College, Oxford. He studied philosophy at the University of Leeds before receiving his PhD from Birkbeck, University of London. His research lies at the intersection of metaphysics with the philosophy of logic and the philosophy of language.

Table of Contents

Part One: Introduction1. Higher-Order Metaphysics: An Introduction, Peter Fritz and Nicholas K. Jones2. A Case for Higher-Order Metaphysics, Andrew Bacon3. Higher-order logic as metaphysics, Jeremy GoodmanPart Two: Pure4. Classicism, Andrew Bacon and Cian Dorr5. Reality as tall and ne, not at and coarse, Øystein Linnebo6. Constructive Type Theory, An Appetizer, Laura CrosillaPart Three: Applied7. A fictionalist theory of universals, Tim Button and Robert Trueman8. Symmetry and Hybrid Contingentism, Maegan Fairchild9. Higher-order metaphysics and propositional attitudes, Harvey LedermanPart Four: History10. Higher-Order Metaphysics in Frege and Russell, Kevin C. Klement11. Against Second-Order Logic: Quine and Beyond, Fraser MacBride12. Ordinary Language meets Higher-Order Quantication, Adriane RiniPart Five: Discussion13. Pure Logic and Higher-order Metaphysics, Christopher Menzel14. Menzel on Pure Logic and Higher-Order Metaphysics, Timothy Williamson15. Against Second-Order Primitivism, Bryan Pickel16. Pickel against Second-Order Primitivism, Timothy Williamson17. Why I am not an Absolutist (or a First-Orderist), Agustín Rayo