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1. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 19 > Issue: 2
William Lane Craig Absolute Creationism and Divine Conceptualism: A Call for Conceptual Clarity
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The contemporary debate over God and abstract objects is hampered by a lack of conceptual clarity concerning two distinct metaphysical views: absolute creationism and divine conceptualism. This confusion goes back to the fount of the current debate, the article “Absolute Creation” by Thomas Morris and Christopher Menzel, who were not of one mind concerning God’s relation to abstract objects. Confusion has followed in their wake. Going forward, theistic philosophers need to distinguish more clearly between a sort of modified Platonism, according to which abstract objects depend ontologically on God, and a sort of divine psychologism, according to which objects typically thought to be abstract are, in fact, concrete mental entities of some sort.
...The contemporary debate over God and abstract objects is hampered by a lack of ... not of one mind concerning God’s relation to abstract objects. Confusion has ... clearly between a sort of modified Platonism, according to which abstract objects ...
2. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 23 > Issue: 1
Steven B. Cowan Orcid-ID Or Abstractum: Idealism and Abstract Objects
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George Berkeley is famous for the metaphysical principle esse is percipi or percipere (“to be is to be perceived or to be a perceiver”). Many Berkeleyan idealists take this principle to be incompatible with Platonic realism about abstract objects, and thus opt either for nominalism or divine conceptualism on which they are construed as divine ideas. In this paper, I argue that Berkeleyan idealism is consistent with a Platonic realism in which abstracta exist outside the divine mind. This allows the Berkeleyan to expand Berkeley’s principle to read: esse is percipi or percipere or abstractum.
...Idealism and Abstract Objects ... take this principle to be incompatible with Platonic realism about abstract objects ... Or Abstractum Idealism and Abstract Objects ...
3. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 13 > Issue: 2
Paul Gould The Problem of God and Abstract Objects: A Prolegomenon
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How does God relate to abstract objects, if there be any? Any adequate solution to this question quickly leads to deep waters philosophical and theological. In this essay, I attempt to bring clarity to the debate related to the problem of God and abstract objects by first explicating as precisely as possible the problem and then by imposing some order into the debate by classifying various contemporary answers to the problem.
...The Problem of God and Abstract Objects ... How does God relate to abstract objects, if there be any? Any adequate solution ... and abstract objects by first explicating as precisely as possible the problem and ...
4. The Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 92 > Issue: 10
Bernard Linsky, Edward N. Zalta Naturalized Platonism Versus Platonized Naturalism
... this paper, we argue that our knowledge of abstract objects is ... natural sciences. But some abstract objects, such as mathematical ... ontology that recognizes abstract objects, that is, objects that are ...
5. Philosophical Inquiry: Volume > 23 > Issue: 1/2
Bernard Linsky Placing Abstract Objects in Naturalism
...Placing Abstract Objects in Naturalism ... Placing Abstract Objects in Naturalism Bernard Linsky ... existence of abstract objects. The independent mathematical project of ...
6. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 18 > Issue: 2
William Lane Craig “Absolute Creation” and “Theistic Activism”: A Plea for Terminological Uniformity
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Morris and Menzel’s view that God is the Creator of abstract as well as concrete objects is variously referred to by the labels “absolute creation” and “theistic activism.” To use these labels synonymously, however, exhibits a lack of discrimination. Theistic activism is the project of grounding modality in God, particularly in the divine will. Absolute creationism is a nonmodal project which regards abstract objects as created by God. The synonymous use of these terms results in confusion in debates over divine aseity and sovereignty. Philosophical discussion will benefit if we adopt a uniform terminology discriminating between these different views.
... abstract objects as created by God. The synonymous use of these terms results in ... distinct. The current discussion of the ontology of abstract objects and God ... contemporary metaphysical debate over God and abstract objects. 1 I have ...
7. Philosophy Today: Volume > 9 > Issue: 2
James K. Feibleman How Abstract Objects Survive
...How Abstract Objects Survive ... HOW ABSTRACT OBJECTS SURVIVE ... ;^cts.' By 'abstract objects,' it should be noted, I ...
8. Croatian Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 5 > Issue: 1
Bernard Linsky Remarks on Platonized Naturalism
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A discussion of views first presented by this author and Edward Zalta in 1995 in the paper “Naturalized Platonism vs. Platonized Naturalism”. That paper presents an application of Zalta’s “object theory” to the ontology of mathematics, and claims that there is a plenitude of abstract objects, all the creatures of distinct mathematical theories. After a summary of the position, two questions concerning the view are singled out for discussion: just how many mathematical objects there are by our account, and the nature of the properties we use to characterize abstract objects. The difference between the authors in more recent developments of the view are also discussed.
... claims that there is a plenitude of abstract objects, all the creatures of distinct ... of the properties we 'use to characterize abstract objects. The difference ... abstract objects, so that every possible mathematical theory was in fact true of some ...
9. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 20 > Issue: 2
William Lane Craig Erik Wielenberg’s Metaphysics of Morals
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Focusing on Erik Wielenberg’s metaphysic of morals, I argue that his moral Platonism is, given the presumption against the existence of abstract objects, unmotivated. Moreover, Godless Normative Realism is implausible in light of the mysterious causal relations said to obtain between concrete objects and moral abstracta. His appeals to theism in order to motivate such causal connections is nugatory. If Wielenberg walks back his moral Platonism, then his metaphysics of morals collapses and Godless Normative Realism becomes explanatorily vacuous.
... Platonism is, given the presumption against the existence of abstract objects ... existing abstract objects. His view is akin to mathematical Platonism ... an independent realm of immaterial, causally effete, abstract objects like ...
10. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 20 > Issue: 1
Stephen E. Parrish Defending Theistic Conceptualism
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There has been much discussion of the relationship between God and abstract objects. Three positions taken by theists are Absolute Creationism, Theistic Conceptualism, and Antirealism. I argue that Theistic Conceptualism combined with Perfect Being theology can avoid common criticisms, and that it renders the created abstract objects of Absolute Creationism unnecessary. I also hold that Antirealism is quite close to Theistic Conceptualism, and that Antirealism when combined with God as an omniscient being ends up being almost indistinguishable from it.
... abstract objects are ideal objects in God’s mind. TC holds a middle position ... between Absolute Creationism (AC), the position that some abstract objects ... abstract objects. I will argue (among other things) against AC that for God to ...
11. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 21 > Issue: 2
William Lane Craig Response to Van Inwagen and Welty
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In response to my critics, I argue that Peter van Inwagen, despite his protestations, is an advocate of an indispensability argument for Platonism. What remains to be shown by van Inwagen is that his version of the argument overcomes his own presumption against Platonism and survives defeat by besting every anti-Platonist alternative. While acknowledging Greg Welty’s helpful responses to my worries about divine conceptualism as a realist alternative to Platonism, I express ongoing reservations about some of those responses.
... book, God and Abstract Objects, published in 2017 by Springer ... ). 2. William Lane Craig, God and Abstract Objects: The Coherence of Theism (Cham ... there are uncreated abstract objects. I make it clear that I am talking about ...
12. The Review of Metaphysics: Volume > 71 > Issue: 3
William Lane Craig In Defense of Absolute Creationism
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Absolute creationism is a sort of theistic Platonism, which preserves intact the host of abstract objects but renders them dependent upon God. From its inception, absolute creationism has been dogged by a vicious circularity that has come to be known as the bootstrapping objection. Many philosophers, including the author, have taken the bootstrapping objection to be decisive against absolute creationism. But a review of the most sophisticated statement of the objection suggests a way out for the absolute creationist. By denying a constituent ontology the absolute creationist can avoid the vicious circularity, since explanatorily prior to his creation of properties God can be just as he is without exemplifying properties. Still, in light of the metaphysical idleness of such abstract entities, theists would be well advised to deny instead the Platonist’s presumed criterion of ontological commitment and so to avoid realism altogether.
... the host of abstract objects but renders them dependent upon God. From its ... abstract objects as well. It is a sort of theistic Platonism, which ... preserves intact the host of abstract objects but renders them ...
13. Croatian Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 7 > Issue: 2
Dunja Jutronić Platonism in Linguistics
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Jim Brown (1991, viii) says that platonism, in mathematics involves the following: 1. mathematical objects exist independently of us; 2. mathematical objects are abstract; 3. we learn about mathematical objects by the faculty of intuition. The same is being claimed by Jerrold Katz (1981, 1998) in his platonistic approach to linguistics. We can take the object of linguistic analysis to be concrete physical sounds as held by nominalists, or we can assume that the object of linguistic study are psychological or mental states which presents the conceptualism or psychologism of Chomsky and that language is an abstract object as held by platonists or realists and urged by Jerrold Katz hinlself.I want to explicate Katz’s proposal which is based on Kant’s conception of pure intuition and give arguments why I find it implausible. I also present doubts that linguists use intuitive evidence only. I conclude with some arguments against the a prioricity of intuitive judgements in general which is also relevant for Jim Brown’s platonistic beliefs.
... of Chomsky, or abstract objects-the Platonism that Katzs hirnself urges. Devitt ... objects and thus linguistics is about abstract objects. (Katz 1981, 76) Katz takes ... English) are abstract objects of a platonic sort. For Katz sentences and language ...
14. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research: Volume > 51 > Issue: 2
Dale Jacquette Intensional Logic and the Metaphysics of Intentionality, by Edward N. Zalta
... logic of none xis tents, and Edward N. Zalta’s theory of abstract objects. Zalta ... reformulation of the logic of his earlier Abstract Objects: An Introduction to Axiomatic ... intentional states. The logic expands on the earlier system of Abstract Objects by ...
15. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 17 > Issue: 2
William Lane Craig God and Abstract Objects
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Central to classical theism is the conception of God as the sole ultimate reality, the creator of all things apart from Himself. Such a doctrine is rooted in Hebrew-Christian scripture and unfolded by the ante-Nicene church fathers. Platonism, which postulates the existence of uncreated abstract objects, is therefore theologically objectionable. In order to overcome the presumption which anti-Platonism enjoys theologically, the Platonist would have to show that all other positions, both realist and nonrealist, are rationally untenable. No one has even attempted so audacious a project, nor is there any reasonable expectation that it could be carried out.
...God and Abstract Objects ... , which postulates the existence of uncreated abstract objects, is therefore ... God and Abstract Objects William Lane Craig ...
16. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 19 > Issue: 2
Paul M. Gould God over All: Divine Aseity and the Challenge of Platonism
... the abstract-concrete divide is causality. Abstract objects “are ... to effects” (6). Accordingly, abstract objects cannot be ... abstract objects. Thus, if Platonism is true, God is not the sole ultimate reality ...
17. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 13 > Issue: 2
William Lane Craig A Nominalist Perspective on God and Abstract Objects
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A metaphysically robust, as opposed to lightweight, Platonism with respect to uncreatable abstract objects is theologically unacceptable because it fatally compromises creatio ex nihilo and divine aseity. The principal argument for Platonism is the so-called Indispensability Argument based on the ontological commitments required by singular terms and existential quantifiers in true sentences. Different varieties of Nominalism challenge each of the argument’s premises. Fictionalism accepts the assumed criterion of ontological commitment but rejects the truth of the relevant sentences. Neutralism accepts the truth of the relevant sentences but denies the assumed criterion of ontological commitment. Both of these perspectives, but especially the last, are plausible routes available for the Christian theist.
...A Nominalist Perspective on God and Abstract Objects ... uncreatable abstract objects is theologically unacceptable because it fatally compromises ... Nominalist Perspective on God and Abstract Objects ...
18. Canadian Journal of Philosophy: Volume > 14 > Issue: 4
Fred Wilson Language and Other Abstract Objects
...Language and Other Abstract Objects ... NOTICE J.J. Katz: Language and Other Abstract Objects (Rowman and Little field ... Abstract Objects sentences are not among the sentences constituting the language ...
19. Philosophia Christi: Volume > 15 > Issue: 2
R. Scott Smith William Lane Craig’s Nominalism, Essences, and Implications for Our Knowledge of Reality
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William Lane Craig has claimed that Platonism is incompatible theologically with Christian theism in that it undermines God’s aseity. He develops three main objections to Platonism, as well as his own nominalist theory of reference, for which he draws from philosophy of language. However, I rebut his arguments. I argue that, unlike on Platonism, his view will not preserve a real essence of intentionality. Without that, his view undermines our abilities to know reality. As an implication, I also will highlight the importance methodologically of approaching this issue from the primacy of the ontology of knowledge, not philosophy of language.
... to things that could only be abstract objects. (Likewise, there ... range over things that could only be abstract objects.) (III ... ) Therefore, abstract objects exist. 5 Craig correctly raises ...
20. Journal of Philosophical Research: Volume > 27
Daniel A. Kaufman Composite Objects and the Abstract/Concrete Distinction
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In his latest book, Realistic Rationalism (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998), Jerrold J. Katz proposes an ontology designed to handle putative counterexamples to the traditional abstract/concrete distinction. Objects like the equator and impure sets, which appear to have both abstract and concrete components, are problematic for classical Platonism, whose exclusive categories of objects with spatiotemporal location and objects lacking spatial or temporal location leave no room for them. Katz proposes to add a “composite” category to Plato’s dualistic ontology, which is supposed to include all those objects with both abstract and concrete components.But every concrete object stands in an indefinite number of relations to abstract ones. Thus, Katz must offer principled criteria describing just those relations that produce a composite object, lest all concrete objects turn out to be composite. The trouble that he has in specifying such a “creative” relationship results from his clinging to the traditional definitions of “abstract” and “concrete.” The substance dualism that results renders the articulation of any relations between abstract and concrete difficult, and a category such as Katz’s “composite objects” impossible.
... stand in an indefinite number of relations to abstract objects, all the weight of ... reject. The first is the idea that abstract objects are transcendent, that they ... occupy a “separate world.” To purge the immanent world of abstract objects, to ...