The Philosophy Department is pleased to announce that Wesley Cray (Grand Valley State University) will be giving a talk entitled “An Ontology of Ideas” on Friday, March 28, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. in Eberly 121.
Cray graduated from IUP in 2005 and completed his PhD in philosophy at the Ohio State University in 2012.
Abstract:
Philosophers often talk about and engage with ideas. Scientists, artists, and historians do, too. So does practically everyone else. But what is an
idea? In this talk, I first develop and motivate an ontology of ideas that
satisfies various folk platitudes associated with the idea of idea, and does so within an ontologically parsimonious framework. I then discuss some
nuances of the account, focusing particularly on the individuation and
survival conditions of ideas. In the final section, I show how the account
developed herein can be applied to give an account of the ontology of musical works, and of so-called “works for performance” in general. (This
talk is based on collaborative work with Timothy Schroeder.)
Department of Philosophy