TUDOMANYFILOZOFIA SZEMINARIUM, Z. S z a b o

ELTE TTK Tudomanytortenet es Tudomanyfilozofia Tanszek Budapest, Pazmany P. setany 1/A TUDOMANYFILOZOFIA SZEMINARIUM (http://hps.elte.hu/seminar) ________________________________________________ Marcius 20 12:30 6. em. 6.54 Z o l t a n S z a b o Cornell University Ontological commitment On what basis can we say that someone admits into his ontology numbers, mental states, propositions, events, or other dubious entities? The classical answer to this question is due to Quine: ontological commitment to Fs (where 'F' is an arbitrary one-place predicate) is the acceptance of the truth a theory that logically entails that there are Fs. In my talk I will argue against this Quinean position. I will contend that for some predicates 'F' it is possible for a rational and reflective person to believe that there are Fs and at the same time not to believe in Fs. If my contention is correct, there might be a way to articulate ontological doubts regarding certain sorts of problematic entities without repudiating our scientific and commonsense views which demand their existence. A szeminarium szervezoje: E. Szabo Laszlo -- Laszlo E. Szabo Department of Theoretical Physics Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University, Budapest H-1518 Budapest, Pf. 32. Phone: (36-1)2090-555/6671 Fax: (36-1)372-2509 Home: (36-1)200-7318 http://hps.elte.hu/~leszabo