Empty Reference in Sixteenth-Century Nominalism: John Mair’s Case
Most nominalist logicians of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries believed that we could conceive of and refer to impossible objects. The articulation of the semantics of impossibility that underlined this view is much less known than that of their fourteenth-century predecessors, and it may at fir...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
De Gruyter
2025-04-01
|
| Series: | Open Philosophy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2025-0070 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849699357536813056 |
|---|---|
| author | Alt Guido |
| author_facet | Alt Guido |
| author_sort | Alt Guido |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Most nominalist logicians of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries believed that we could conceive of and refer to impossible objects. The articulation of the semantics of impossibility that underlined this view is much less known than that of their fourteenth-century predecessors, and it may at first seem to conflict with that tradition’s core principle of theoretical parsimony. Here, I propose a first analysis of John Mair’s case and argue that a central part of that development concerns the theory of signification itself. I will examine his views on empty reference and imaginable impossibilities in relation to John Buridan, Marsilius of Inghen, and John Dorp of Leiden, as well as an anonymous work known as the Hagenau commentary. By doing so, I intend to show that his approach to empty reference is closely connected to issues of conceptual representation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fa839f2d7ec14f1caa0f7ae5fc91105f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2543-8875 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj-art-fa839f2d7ec14f1caa0f7ae5fc91105f2025-08-20T03:18:37ZengDe GruyterOpen Philosophy2543-88752025-04-0181577910.1515/opphil-2025-0070Empty Reference in Sixteenth-Century Nominalism: John Mair’s CaseAlt Guido0Humanities and Arts Department, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, IsraelMost nominalist logicians of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries believed that we could conceive of and refer to impossible objects. The articulation of the semantics of impossibility that underlined this view is much less known than that of their fourteenth-century predecessors, and it may at first seem to conflict with that tradition’s core principle of theoretical parsimony. Here, I propose a first analysis of John Mair’s case and argue that a central part of that development concerns the theory of signification itself. I will examine his views on empty reference and imaginable impossibilities in relation to John Buridan, Marsilius of Inghen, and John Dorp of Leiden, as well as an anonymous work known as the Hagenau commentary. By doing so, I intend to show that his approach to empty reference is closely connected to issues of conceptual representation.https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2025-0070nominalismempty referencejohn mairmarsilius of inghenintentionality |
| spellingShingle | Alt Guido Empty Reference in Sixteenth-Century Nominalism: John Mair’s Case Open Philosophy nominalism empty reference john mair marsilius of inghen intentionality |
| title | Empty Reference in Sixteenth-Century Nominalism: John Mair’s Case |
| title_full | Empty Reference in Sixteenth-Century Nominalism: John Mair’s Case |
| title_fullStr | Empty Reference in Sixteenth-Century Nominalism: John Mair’s Case |
| title_full_unstemmed | Empty Reference in Sixteenth-Century Nominalism: John Mair’s Case |
| title_short | Empty Reference in Sixteenth-Century Nominalism: John Mair’s Case |
| title_sort | empty reference in sixteenth century nominalism john mair s case |
| topic | nominalism empty reference john mair marsilius of inghen intentionality |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2025-0070 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT altguido emptyreferenceinsixteenthcenturynominalismjohnmairscase |