1 against ontologically evil misuse of predicate logic barry smith
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
1
Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic
Barry Smithhttp://ontologist.com
![Page 2: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
2
FantologyThe syntax of first-order predicate logic is
a mirror of reality
‘Fa’ (or ‘Rab’ etc.) is the key to ontological structure
Fantology a special case of linguistic Kantianism: the structure of language is they key to the structure of [knowable] reality
![Page 3: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
3
For the fantologist
“F(a)”, “R(a,b)” … is the language for ontology
This language reflects the structure of reality
Reality is made up of atoms plus abstract (1- and n-place) ‘properties’ or ‘attributes’
![Page 4: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
4
David Armstrong’s
spreadsheet ontology
![Page 5: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
5
F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
![Page 6: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
6
F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
a x x x x x
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
![Page 7: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
7
F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
a x x x x x
b x x x x x
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
![Page 8: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
8
F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
a x x x x x
b x x x x x
c x x x x x
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
![Page 9: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
9
F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
a x x x x x
b x x x x x
c x x x x x
d x x
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
and so on …
![Page 10: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
10
Fantology
tends to make you believe in some future state of ‚total science‘
when the values of ‘F’ and ‘a’,
all of them,
will be revealed to the elect
(Neokantianism)
![Page 11: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
11
F(a)
All generality belongs to the predicate
‘a’ is a mere name
Contrast this with the way scientists use names:
Yeast DNA-Binding Requirement
Ribosomal Protein Gene Promoter Sequence
![Page 12: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
12
‘a’ leaves no room for ontological complexity
Hence: reality is made of atoms
Fantology cannot do justice to the existence of different levels of granularity on the side of reality
Thus conducive to reductionism in philosophy
![Page 13: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
13
F(a)
‘a’ is a bare namevarious doctrines of bare particulars
including noumenal views as e.g. in the
Tractatus doctrine of simples
(more Kantianism)
![Page 14: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
14
F(a)
To understand properties is to understand predication
(effectively in terms of functional application à la Frege)
![Page 15: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
15
Aristotle distinguished
Predication in the category of substance:
John is a man, Henry is an ox
Predication in the category of accident:
John is hungry, Henry is asleep
![Page 16: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
16
For Fantologyno predication in the category of
substancee.g. [Quine] because there are no
substancesor because the two types of predication
are confusedor because the bareness of ‘a’ yields an
aversion to idea of substances as spatially extended and spatially located
![Page 17: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
17
Aristotle’s Ontological Square
Substantial Accidental
Second substance
man
cat
ox
Second accident
headache
sun-tan
dread
First substance
this man
this cat
this ox
First accident
this headache
this sun-tan
this dread
Uni
vers
alP
artic
ular
![Page 18: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
18
Aristotle’s Ontological Square
Substantial Accidental
Second substance
man
cat
ox
Second accident
headache
sun-tan
dread
First substance
this man
this cat
this ox
First accident
this headache
this sun-tan
this dread
Uni
vers
alP
artic
ular
![Page 19: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
19
Aristotle’s Ontological Square
Substantial Accidental
Second substance
man
cat
ox
Second accident
headache
sun-tan
dread
First substance
this man
this cat
this ox
First accident
this headache
this sun-tan
this dread
Uni
vers
alP
artic
ular
![Page 20: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
20
Aristotle’s Ontological Square
Substantial Accidental
Second substance
man
cat
ox
Second accident
headache
sun-tan
dread
First substance
this man
this cat
this ox
First accident
this headache
this sun-tan
this dread
Uni
vers
alP
artic
ular
![Page 21: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
21
Aristotle’s Ontological Square
Substantial Accidental
Second substance
man
cat
ox
Second accident
headache
sun-tan
dread
First substance
this man
this cat
this ox
First accident
this headache
this sun-tan
this dread
Uni
vers
alP
artic
ular
![Page 22: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
22
Standard Predicate Logic – F(a), R(a,b) ...
Substantial Accidental
Attributes
F, G, R
Individuals
a, b, c
this, that
Uni
vers
alP
artic
ular
![Page 23: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
23
Bicategorial NominalismSubstantial Accidental
First substance
this man
this cat
this ox
First accident
this headache
this sun-tan
this dread
Uni
vers
alP
artic
ular
![Page 24: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
24
Process Metaphysics, Trope Bundle Theories
Substantial Accidental
Events
Processes
“Everything is flux”
Uni
vers
alP
artic
ular
![Page 25: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
25
Fantology
(given its roots in mathematics)
has no satisfactory way of dealing with time
hence leads to banishment of time from the ontology
(as in Armstrong’s or Quine’s four-dimensionalism)
![Page 26: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
26
F(a), R(a,b) … adicity
all structures in reality have an adicity
-- tendency to deal inadequately not only with time and change but with continuous phenomena in general
![Page 27: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
27
F(a), R(a,b) … adicity
John has a headache
What is the adicity of John’s headache (a relation [?] between your consciousness and various processes taking place in an around your brain) ?
![Page 28: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
28
The extensionalist limitations of fantology
lead one into the temptations of possible world metaphysics
and other fantasies
![Page 29: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
29
Fantology leads you to talk nonsense about “family
resemblances”
![Page 30: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
30
Fantology
leads to a lazy use of the word ‘property’,
just about any old open sentence will serve to designate a property
-calculus = property ontology as theft rather than honest toil
![Page 31: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
31
Fantology
leads to a lazy use of the word ‘property’,
(in this way, too, fantology is conducive to nominalism)
![Page 32: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
32
Booleanism
if F stands for a property and G stands for a property
then
F&G stands for a property
FvG stands for a property
not-F stands for a property
FG stands for a property
and so on
![Page 33: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
33
Strong Booleanism
There is a complete lattice of properties:
self-identity
FvG
not-F F G not-G
F&G
non-self-identity
![Page 34: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
34
Set theory is Booleanism unremediated
Booleanism without any remediating features whatsoever
![Page 35: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
35
Booleanism
responsible, among other things, for Russell’s paradox
Russell’s solution
Keep Boole
avoid the catastrophe by introducing the machinery of ‘types’
![Page 36: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
36
Booleanism
responsible for Russell’s paradox
and therefore also responsible for the phobia of quantification over properties
and thus in this respect, too, conducive to nominalism
![Page 37: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
37
Lewis and Armstrong
free from Booleanism
with their sparse theory of properties
![Page 38: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
38
That Lewis and Armstrongarrived at their sparse view of properties
against the solid wall of fantological Booleanist orthodoxy
is a miracle of modern intellectual historyanalogous to two 5 stone weakling
climbing up to breathe the free air at the top of Mount Everest with 1000 ton weights attached to their feet
![Page 39: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
39
leading them back, on this point,
to where Aristotelians were from the very beginning
![Page 40: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
40
END
![Page 41: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
41
FOLWUT
First-order logic with universal terms
![Page 42: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
42
Compare the syntax of set theory
(x,y)
one (formal) predicate
![Page 43: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
43
FOLWUT
=(x,y)
Inst(x,u)
Does(x,e)
Part(x,y)
Inst(x,y)
Dep(x,y)
Isa(x,y)
Exemp(x,d)
Loc(x,y)
![Page 44: 1 Against Ontologically Evil Misuse of Predicate Logic Barry Smith](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062407/56649c945503460f94950e85/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
44
Inst(x,u)
no temptation to Booleanism
no temptation to Nominalism