Eternal Possibilities: A Neutral Ground for Meaning and Existence (Philosophical Explorations) - Softcover

Weissman, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809328704 ISBN 13: 9780809328703

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Eternal Possibilities: A Neutral Ground for Meaning and Existence builds on David Weissman's earlier Dispositional Properties and makes a signal contribution to the study of metaphysics. Here, broadening and enriching the point of view adopted in his earlier work, Weissman cites and criticizes a large number of theories proposed by authors from Plato to Wittgenstein and others exploring language theory and metaphysics.

Students of Wittgenstein will be especially interested in Mr. Weissman's critical examination of Wittgenstein's claim in the Tractatus that possibilities are the facts for logic. Weissman proposes a modal theory of properties: they exist in the first instance as possibilities. He argues that a sentence is meaningful if it signifies a property or complex of properties existing as a possible, and true if that possible is instantiated. The status of possibilities and their relation to actual states of affairs are considered in detail.

About this title

About the Author

David Weissman is a professor of philosophy at the City College of New York. He is the author of several books, including Styles of Thought, The Cage, Lost Souls, and A Social Ontology.

Edition details

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0809328704
• ISBN 13: 9780809328703
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312