Ontology Summit 2025 Track 2

Agenda

Øystein Linnebo

Title: Constructional ontology and criteria of identity
Abstract: Gödel and others have suggested that a set can be regarded as constructed from its elements. Given any objects, we can apply the “set of” operation to construct the set of these objects. Inspired by Gödel’s suggestion, this talk presents a far more general constructional approach to ontology. First, I clarify what it is for some objects to be “constructed” from others. The key is that all truths about the “new” objects that are constructed must reduce to truths about the “old” objects on which the construction is based. Then, I explain the central role of criteria of identity in the constructional approach. When constructing “new” objects, it is particularly important to stipulate what it takes for them to be identical or distinct. A variety of examples are provided, including mereological sums, ordered pairs, as well as cardinal and ordinal numbers. Finally, I present a logical framework in which this constructional approach can be developed. In this framework, a large and natural family of forms of construction can be proved to be consistent.

Date: Wednesday, 05 Mar 2025
Start Time: 9:00am PST / 12:00pm EST / 6:00pm CET / 5:00pm GMT / 1700 UTC
- ref: World Clock
Expected Call Duration: 1 hour
Video Conference URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88593616861?pwd=HafnK0yB7PFDK1EyiUyQRDKanZlbjU.1
- Conference ID: 885 9361 6861
- Passcode: 306236