Instantiation as location.

Many familiar forms of property realism identify properties with sui generis ontological categories like universals or tropes and posit a fundamental instantiation relation that unifies objects with their properties. In this paper, I develop and defend locationism, which identifies properties with l...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Philosophical Studies Vol. 167; no. 3; pp. 667 - 683
Autor principal: Cowling, Sam
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Feb2014
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Many familiar forms of property realism identify properties with sui generis ontological categories like universals or tropes and posit a fundamental instantiation relation that unifies objects with their properties. In this paper, I develop and defend locationism, which identifies properties with locations and holds that the occupation relation that unifies objects with their locations also unifies objects with their properties. Along with the theoretical parsimony that locationism enjoys, I argue that locationism resolves a puzzle for actualists regarding the ontological status of uninstantiated properties. I also note some promising applications of the locationist framework to the metaphysics of quantities and possible worlds.