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Types and Tokens: On Abstract Objects

Online ISBN:
9780262259279
Print ISBN:
9780262013017
Publisher:
The MIT Press
Book

Types and Tokens: On Abstract Objects

Published online:
22 August 2013
Published in print:
31 July 2009
Online ISBN:
9780262259279
Print ISBN:
9780262013017
Publisher:
The MIT Press

Abstract

There is a widely recognized but infrequently discussed distinction between the spatiotemporal furniture of the world (tokens) and the types of which they are instances. Words come in both types and tokens — for example, there is only one word type “the,” but there are numerous tokens of it on this page — as do symphonies, bears, chess games, and many other types of things. This book examines the distinction between types and tokens and argues that types exist, even as abstract objects since they lack a unique spatiotemporal location. It demonstrates the ubiquity of references to (and quantifications over) types in science and ordinary language; types have to be reckoned with, and cannot simply be swept under the rug. The book argues that there are such things as types by undermining the epistemological arguments against abstract objects and offering extended original arguments demonstrating the failure of nominalistic attempts to paraphrase away such references to (and quantifications over) types. It then focuses on the relation between types and their tokens, especially for words, showing that there is nothing which all tokens of a type need to have in common other than being tokens of that type. Finally, the book considers an oft-overlooked problem for realism having to do with types occurring in other types (such as words in a sentence) and proposes an original solution, extending the discussion from words and expressions to other types that structurally involve other types (flags and stars and stripes; molecules and atoms; sonatas and notes).

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