On 15/10/2015 6:19 pm, Bruno Marchal wrote:
On 15 Oct 2015, at 00:34, Bruce Kellett wrote:
On 15/10/2015 2:31 am, Bruno Marchal wrote:
Computationalism has an ontology on which everyone agree. Those who
claim to disagree usually add philosophical commitment which is not
used in the reasoning.
An ontology *is* a philosophical commitment,
Not in metamathematics, nor in metaphysics or theology. An ontology is
given by the terms of the theory, which are supposed to be realized in
some model, at the meta-level.
In general, ontology is the science of being in general, embracing such
issues as the nature and the categorical structure of reality. It is a
specifically metaphysical term.
I guess you are referring to the special use of the word 'ontology' that
is common in much scientific metaphysics: ontology refers to the set of
things whose existence is acknowledged by a particular theory or system
of thought. It is the sense in which one speaks of 'the' ontology of a
theory, or of a metaphysical system. In brief, it is the set of things
that the theory or metaphysical system claims actually 'exist'.
In this sense, one can reject the ontology of a theory, and this would
give one reason to doubt the applicability of that theory to the real
world. By "real world' I mean the world of common experience.
Bruce
even if 'everyone' agrees on it. If the ontology is part of the
reasoning, then it is opinion/philosophy, not logic.
Not at the meta-level. I agree this is not an easy point, but the
difficulties go away once you agree with the "final" theory, which
here is Robinson arithmetic. So you need, for the reasoning and its
conclusion to just *understand* 0, s(0), s(s(0)), ... Then the
philosophical or ontological/metaphysical/theological commitment is
invoked only when you say "yes" to the doctor. Everyone can get the
consequences of comp, even those who does not believe in comp.
Bruno
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