A style guide for the structuralist.
Ontic structuralists claim that there are no individual objects, and that reality should instead be thought of as a "web of relations". It is difficult to make this metaphysical picture precise, however, since languages usually characterize the world by describing the objects that exist in it. This...
| Publicado en: | Nous (0029-4624) Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 873 - 902 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Dec2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=189393073&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 189393073 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00294624 D97 jtl: Nous (0029-4624) issn: 00294624 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Dec2025 vid: 59 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 189393073 10.1111/nous.12537 ppf: 873 ppct: 29 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 346KB tig: atl: A style guide for the structuralist. aug: au: Carr, Lucy affil: New York University su: Structuralism Ontology Relation algebras Metaphysics Algebraic logic First-order logic sug: subj: Structuralism Ontology Relation algebras Metaphysics Algebraic logic First-order logic ab: Ontic structuralists claim that there are no individual objects, and that reality should instead be thought of as a "web of relations". It is difficult to make this metaphysical picture precise, however, since languages usually characterize the world by describing the objects that exist in it. This paper proposes a solution to the problem; I argue that when discourse is reformulated in the language of the calculus of relations ‐ an algebraic logic developed by Alfred Tarski ‐ it can be interpreted without presupposing the existence of objects. What is distinctive about the language of the calculus is that it contains no operator that resembles a quantifier, and yet it can be used to paraphrase any sentence expressible in first‐order logic. Since the use of a first‐order quantifier (or some similar operator) is usually what establishes commitment to an ontology of objects, and since the calculus of relations eschews the quantifier in favor of a composition operator that can be given a natural interpretation consistent with structuralist metaphysics, the calculus is an ideal language for the structuralist to use to describe the world. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Nous (0029-4624) is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Nous (0029-4624) holder: Wiley-Blackwell dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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