Essays on indeterminacy
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation consists of two independent essays, each of which is concerned with the phenomenon of indeterminacy, or situations in which there is no fact of the matter. The first essay provides a precise account of W. V. Quine's understanding of "no fact of the matter, " as that phrase features in his indeterminacy theses. In doing so it explores connections with Quine's notion of compatibility (or its correlative, determination) and also his physicalism. The second essay provides a comprehensive framework for theorizing, in a principled way, about the nature of indeterminacy. The guiding thought behind this framework is that indeterminacy essentially involves some sort of underdetermination by more basic facts. The framework breaks into two parts. The first part provides a minimal characterization of the generic concept of indeterminacy. The second part uses this minimal characterization to identify and give precise definitions of a number of different types or conceptions of the nature of indeterminacy. Some of these types are semantic, locating the source of indeterminacy in the meaning of our words or concepts; the others are metaphysical, locating the source of indeterminacy in the mind-independent world.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Taylor, David Ernest |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Philosophy. |
| Primary advisor | Crimmins, Mark |
| Thesis advisor | Crimmins, Mark |
| Thesis advisor | Burgess, Alexis, 1980- |
| Thesis advisor | Hussain, Nadeem J. Z |
| Thesis advisor | Taylor, Kenneth Allen, 1954-2019 |
| Advisor | Burgess, Alexis, 1980- |
| Advisor | Hussain, Nadeem J. Z |
| Advisor | Taylor, Kenneth Allen, 1954-2019 |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | David Ernest Taylor. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Philosophy. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by David Ernest Taylor
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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