FOM: Some thought on "Realism"

[Michael Zeleny]

If terms are taken in their literal and historical meaning, "ontological
realism" is a pleonasm, since realism simpliciter is a thesis about the
form of existence granted to the universals as a category of onta.  By
contrast, retrojecting the mediaeval controversy upon Academic doctrine,
Platonism is a form of realism that stipulates some kind of priority of
universals over particulars.  A finer graining of realism than hitherto
discussed obtains by deciding the kinds of universals through hypostasis
of truth values and a stratified transfinite hierarchy of propositions
that express them.

Cordially -- Mikhail Zeleny at math.ucla.edu * MZ at ptyx.com ** www.ptyx.com
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