{"id":2509,"date":"2021-08-02T05:33:30","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T05:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2021\/08\/02\/could-scollay-square-be-a-nonexistent-object\/"},"modified":"2021-08-02T05:33:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T05:33:30","slug":"could-scollay-square-be-a-nonexistent-object","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2021\/08\/02\/could-scollay-square-be-a-nonexistent-object\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Scollay Square be a Meinongian Nonexistent Object?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scollay<\/a>Bill, newly arrived in Boston,  believes falsely that Scollay Square exists and he wants to visit it. Bill asks Kathleen where it is. Kathleen tells him truly that it no longer exists, and Bill believes her. Both use 'Scollay Square' to refer to the same thing, a physical place, one that does not exist. To exist is to exist in reality.  'In reality' means outside the mind<\/em>; it does not mean in the physical world<\/em>.  <\/span><\/p>\n

So both Bill and Kathleen use 'Scollay Square' to refer to a physical place that does not exist. The two are not using (tokens of) 'Scollay Square' to refer to Fregean senses or to any similar abstract\/ideal item.* Scollay Square is not such an item.  It is concrete, i.e., causally active\/passive.  After all, it was demolished. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now it could be that reference is routed through sense as Frege maintained. Perhaps there is no road to Bedeutung<\/em> except through Sinn<\/em>. Whether or not that is so, when Bill and Kathleen think and talk about Scollay Square, they are not thinking and talking about an abstract object that mediates reference, whether it be thinking reference or linguistic reference.  They are thinking and talking about a concrete, physical thing that does not exist.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We also note that Bill and Kathleen are not thinking or talking about anything immanent to consciousness such as a mental content or a mental act. They are referring to a transcendent<\/em> physical thing that does not exist.  Scollay Square is not in the head or in the mind; if it were, it would exist! If memory serves, it was the illustrious Kasimir Twardowski who first made this point, leastways, the first in the post-Brentano discussion. <\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, some transcendent physical things do not exist. Copley Square is an example of a transcendent physical thing that does exist.<\/span><\/p>\n

But you don't buy it do you? Explain why. (I don't buy it either.)<\/span><\/p>\n

_______________<\/span><\/p>\n

*Anglosophers use 'abstract'; Eurosophers sometimes use 'ideal.' Same difference<\/em> (as a redneck student of mine used to say.)<\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill, newly arrived in Boston,  believes falsely that Scollay Square exists and he wants to visit it. Bill asks Kathleen where it is. Kathleen tells him truly that it no longer exists, and Bill believes her. Both use 'Scollay Square' to refer to the same thing, a physical place, one that does not exist. To … Continue reading “Could Scollay Square be a Meinongian Nonexistent Object?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,100,408,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-existence","category-intentionality","category-language-philosophy-of","category-meinong-matters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}