Forster, Thomas;
(2023)
Foundations of Generalism: Symmetries, Non-individuals and Ontological Nihilism.
Masters thesis (M.Phil.Stud), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The topic of this thesis is the metaphysical theory of generalism: the view that the world is constituted by purely general facts. Whilst the connection may not be immediately obvious, generalism is also touted as a qualitative metaphysics: a theory that seeks to elevate, in some important metaphysical sense, the notion of qualities (i.e. properties and relations) over that of objects. As such, generalism is just as well individuated by its categorial commitments—its commitment to the fundamentality of certain metaphysical categories—as it is by its construal of fundamental facts. My aim in this thesis is to make explicit these connections, providing a proper explication of the generalist position, as well as its motivations and its apparent consequences. Beyond this, the thesis can also be read as an extended argument in favour of individualism: the view that holds, contrary to generalism, that the category of individual, or object, is at least as fundamental as that of property and relation. The subtitle of this thesis, ‘symmetries, non-individuals and ontological nihilism’, alludes to the topic addressed by each of the three chapters. In chapter 1 I explicate and critique the generalist’s primary argument against individualism, one based on the notion of a symmetry. In chapter 2 I investigate the tenability of a position dubbed ‘quantifier generalism’, a position that, I argue, can be further explicated through the notion of a non-individual. And in chapter 3 I turn to the most widely-discussed form of generalism found in the literature: algebraic generalism, a (purported) form of ontological nihlism.
| Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | M.Phil.Stud |
| Title: | Foundations of Generalism: Symmetries, Non-individuals and Ontological Nihilism |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10173656 |
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