Friday, March 09, 2012

I was amused by this post from the Maverick which attempts to classify the various forms of nominalism. I particularly liked the idea of 'mad dog nominalism' – a form of the genre that collapses into linguistic idealism.

I pointed out in the comments box that there is a further ingredient in Ockham's nominalism, namely the thesis that by ignorance of logic we are led astray into certain false and fantastical beliefs. This is not a million miles from Wittgenstein.
[Philosophical problems] are, of course, not empirical problems; they are solved, rather, by looking into the workings of our language, and that in such a way as to make us recognise those workings: in despite of an urge to misunderstand them. The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have always known. Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. [Philosophical Investigations ~109]

1 comment:

Anthony said...

"Nominalism Proper: Particulars (unrepeatables) alone exist: there are no universals (repeatables)."

What about abstract particulars?

This is really a topic for another post, but I hope it is one you can discuss here.