Abstract object theory (AOT) is a branch of metaphysics regarding abstract objects. [1] Originally devised by metaphysician Edward Zalta in 1981, [2] the theory was an expansion of mathematical Platonism.
Abstract Objects: An Introduction to Axiomatic Metaphysics (1983) is the title of a publication by Edward Zalta that outlines abstract object theory.
AOT is a dual predication approach (also known as "dual copula strategy") to abstract objects [3] [4] influenced by the contributions of Alexius Meinong [5] [6] and his student Ernst Mally. [7] [6] On Zalta's account, there are two modes of predication: some objects (the ordinary concrete ones around us, like tables and chairs) exemplify properties, while others (abstract objects like numbers, and what others would call " nonexistent objects", like the round square and the mountain made entirely of gold) merely encode them. [8] While the objects that exemplify properties are discovered through traditional empirical means, a simple set of axioms allows us to know about objects that encode properties. [9] For every set of properties, there is exactly one object that encodes exactly that set of properties and no others. [10] This allows for a formalized ontology.
A notable feature of AOT is that several notable paradoxes in naive predication theory (namely Romane Clark's paradox undermining the earliest version of Héctor-Neri Castañeda's guise theory, [11] [12] [13] Alan McMichael's paradox, [14] and Daniel Kirchner's paradox) [15] do not arise within it. [16] AOT employs restricted abstraction schemata to avoid such paradoxes. [17]
In 2007, Zalta and Branden Fitelson introduced the term computational metaphysics to describe the implementation and investigation of formal, axiomatic metaphysics in an automated reasoning environment. [18] [19]
Abstract object theory (AOT) is a branch of metaphysics regarding abstract objects. [1] Originally devised by metaphysician Edward Zalta in 1981, [2] the theory was an expansion of mathematical Platonism.
Abstract Objects: An Introduction to Axiomatic Metaphysics (1983) is the title of a publication by Edward Zalta that outlines abstract object theory.
AOT is a dual predication approach (also known as "dual copula strategy") to abstract objects [3] [4] influenced by the contributions of Alexius Meinong [5] [6] and his student Ernst Mally. [7] [6] On Zalta's account, there are two modes of predication: some objects (the ordinary concrete ones around us, like tables and chairs) exemplify properties, while others (abstract objects like numbers, and what others would call " nonexistent objects", like the round square and the mountain made entirely of gold) merely encode them. [8] While the objects that exemplify properties are discovered through traditional empirical means, a simple set of axioms allows us to know about objects that encode properties. [9] For every set of properties, there is exactly one object that encodes exactly that set of properties and no others. [10] This allows for a formalized ontology.
A notable feature of AOT is that several notable paradoxes in naive predication theory (namely Romane Clark's paradox undermining the earliest version of Héctor-Neri Castañeda's guise theory, [11] [12] [13] Alan McMichael's paradox, [14] and Daniel Kirchner's paradox) [15] do not arise within it. [16] AOT employs restricted abstraction schemata to avoid such paradoxes. [17]
In 2007, Zalta and Branden Fitelson introduced the term computational metaphysics to describe the implementation and investigation of formal, axiomatic metaphysics in an automated reasoning environment. [18] [19]