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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Quine's criterion holds that to be is to be the value of a bound variable, making existential quantification inseparable from ontological commitment.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.We can quantify over useful fictions (numbers, properties) without truly believing they exist in the same sense as physical objects.
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    • 2.Bound variables are artifacts of notation; what we're *really* committed to depends on interpretation, not syntactic form alone.
      ?

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    • 3.Quine's criterion makes ontology parasitic on language choice, yet different logical notations can formalize identical theories differently.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Quantified variables in formal logic are the primary mechanism for expressing what we claim exists in our best theories.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Without tying ontology to quantification, we lack a principled method to identify what our theories genuinely commit us to.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Quine's criterion avoids arbitrary distinctions between 'real' and 'merely discussed' entities by using logical form as the arbiter.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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