{"id":5515,"date":"2017-05-17T11:23:20","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T11:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/05\/17\/four-types-of-ontological-egalitarianism\/"},"modified":"2017-05-17T11:23:20","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T11:23:20","slug":"four-types-of-ontological-egalitarianism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/05\/17\/four-types-of-ontological-egalitarianism\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Types of Ontological Egalitarianism"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are egalitarians in ontology as there are in political theory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Herewith, four types of ontological egalitarianism: egological, spatial, temporal, and modal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Egological egalitarianism<\/em> is the view  there is a plurality of equally real selves.  I take it we are all egological egalitarians in sane moments. I'll assume that no one reading this thinks, solipsistically, that he alone is real and that others, if they exist at all, exist only as merely intentional objects for him. The problem of Other Minds may concern us, but that is an epistemological problem, one that presupposes that there are other minds\/selves. On ontological egalitarianism, then, no self enjoys ontological privilege.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spatial egalitarianism<\/em> is the that there is a plurality of equally real places.  Places other than here are just as real as the place picked out by a speaker's use of 'here.'  I take it we are all spatial egalitarians.  No one, not even a Manhattanite, thinks that the place where he is is the only real place.  Here is real but so is yonder.  No place enjoys ontological privilege. All places are equal. <\/span><\/p>\n

Temporal egalitarianism<\/em> is the view that there is a plurality of equally real times.  Times other than the present time are just as real as the present time. No time enjoys ontological privilege, which implies that there is nothing ontologically special about the present time. All times are equal. No time is present, period.  This is called the B-theory of time. Here<\/a> is a fuller explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Modal egalitarianism<\/em> is the view that there is a plurality of equally real possibilities.  Possibilities other than those that are actual are just as real as those that are actual. It is plausible to think of possibilities as coming in maximal or 'world-sized' packages.  Call them possible worlds.  On modal egalitarianism, then, all possible worlds are equally real.  No world enjoys ontological privilege.  Our world, the world we take to be actual, is not absolutely actual; it is merely actual for us, or rather, actual at itself.  But that is true of every world: each is actual at itself. No world is actual, period.  In respect of actuality, all possible worlds are equal. <\/span><\/p>\n

What is curious about these four types of ontological egalitarianism is that, while the first two are about as close to common sense as one is likely to get, the second two are not.  Indeed, the fourth will strike most people as crazy. Was David Lewis crazy?  I don't know, but I hear he was a bad driver. <\/span><\/p>\n

Related: Philosophers as Bad Drivers?<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a>What is Potentiality? An Exploration<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are egalitarians in ontology as there are in political theory. Herewith, four types of ontological egalitarianism: egological, spatial, temporal, and modal. Egological egalitarianism is the view  there is a plurality of equally real selves.  I take it we are all egological egalitarians in sane moments. I'll assume that no one reading this thinks, solipsistically, … Continue reading “Four Types of Ontological Egalitarianism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,328,663,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-modal-matters","category-self-self-awareness-self-reference","category-space-and-time","category-time-and-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515","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=5515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}