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    An ontology of abstract propositions multiplies entities ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Sentences expressing propositional attitudes (such as 'Seneca believed that man is a rational animal') express a relation between agents and propositions, where propositions are objective abstract entities that are the ultimate vehicles of truth and meaning.

    An ontology of abstract propositions multiplies entities beyond necessity when behavioral or functional-state analyses can account for attitude ascriptions without positing abstract objects.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Occam's Razor favors theories minimizing ontological commitments when empirically equivalent explanations exist.
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    • 2.Functional and behavioral dispositions are publicly observable; abstract propositions are epistemically inaccessible.
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    • 3.Physicalism is simpler than dualism: mental states reduce to brain states without invoking non-physical abstracta.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Behavioral equivalence doesn't entail identity: two agents with identical dispositions can have different intentional content.
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    • 2.Mathematical and logical truths require abstract objects; denying them elsewhere undermines explanations relying on them.
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    • 3.Functional-state analyses fail to capture the truth-conditions of beliefs about non-existent or counterfactual scenarios.
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    Key Terms

    Abstract propositions(in metaphysics and logic)
    Statements or claims about ideas, concepts, or numbers—things that don't have a physical form. For example, 'two plus two equals four' is abstract because the numbers themselves don't exist as physical objects you can touch.
    Attitude ascriptions(as used in philosophy of mind and language)
    The act of saying someone has a mental state or belief, like saying 'she believes it will rain' or 'he wants coffee.'
    Functional-state analyses(as used in philosophy of mind)
    Explaining something by describing what it *does* rather than what it *is*—like explaining a belief by describing how it makes you behave.
    Multiplies entities beyond necessity(as used in philosophy of logic)
    A way of saying someone is suggesting too many things exist when simpler explanations would work just as well; it's wasteful philosophically.
    Occam's Razor (implied by 'beyond necessity')(as a methodological principle in philosophy)
    A principle saying that the simplest explanation that works is usually the best one—don't assume extra things exist if you don't have to.
    Ontology(Carnap argues this enterprise is based on a mistake)
    The philosophical discipline that tries to answer hard questions about what there really is.
    abstract objects(The target of Platonist ontological claims)
    Objects referred to by singular terms in literally true sentences that cannot be paraphrased away; includes mathematical objects (e.g., numbers), propositions, properties, relations, sentence types, possible worlds, logical objects, and fictional objects.

    Connections

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    Philosophy of Language1 linked

    Related

    Behavioral equivalence doesn't entail identity: two agents with identical dispos...Functional and behavioral dispositions are publicly observable; abstract proposi...Functional-state analyses fail to capture the truth-conditions of beliefs about ...Mathematical and logical truths require abstract objects; denying them elsewhere...

    Details

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    Occam's Razor favors theories minimizing ontological commitments when empiricall...Physicalism is simpler than dualism: mental states reduce to brain states withou...Sentences expressing propositional attitudes (such as 'Seneca believed that man ...