Connolly, N. (2024) Modal Meinongianism doesn’t exist. Grazer Philosophische Studien, 100 (4). pp. 586-598. ISSN 0165-9227
Abstract
Meinongianism takes non-existent objects to actually possess the qualities they are characterised as possessing. But many of these qualities are existence entailing. Priest and Berto’s modal Meinongianism tries to circumvent this problem by taking Pegasus to possess the property of being winged in some nonactual world. I argue that modal Meingongianism’s individuation criterion for fictional and imaginary entities doesn’t allow us to rule out that Emma Woodhouse and Batman are identical. I further argue that depending on the status of the ‘other worlds’ it posits, modal Meinongianism either trivialises Meinongianism’s ‘characterisation principle’ or replaces it with something no less objectionable. Priest and Berto’s view, I conclude, if it is tenable, is not a form of Meinongianism; but arguably it is something better: a structuralist account of non-existent objects.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a journal article published in Grazer Philosophische Studien is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | modal Meinongianism; non-existence; individuation; impossible worlds |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > Department of Philosophy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 30 Jul 2024 11:44 |
Last Modified: | 31 Jul 2024 04:08 |
Published Version: | https://brill.com/view/journals/gps/100/4/article-... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Brill |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1163/18756735-00000202 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:215397 |