Types: Essays in Metaphysics

This study comprises a series of applications to ontology, philosophy of mind and aesthetics, of two nominalistic theses: that all things we encounter are types and that things are ontologically incomplete. Types are material things that recur at several indices at which they are identical with other things. Thus in this world Man=Mortal, and today Jayne=Happy. The Jupiter Symphony is a material thing that recurs at various times at homes and in concert halls. Like all things, it is ontologically incomplete (it is undetermined with respect to some properties); therefore it can be interpreted, ie be identical with some things which are more complete. Using these ideas, new and metaphysically frugal solutions are offered to a plethora of questions that have beset philosophy ever since Plato.