Meinongian metaontology and the paradox of negative existentials

• Grant number: 22/13928-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: February 20, 2023
• End date: July 27, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Metaphysics
• Principal Investigator: Giorgio Venturi
• Grantee: Renato Semaniuc Valvassori
• Supervisor: Matteo Plebani
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università degli Studi di Torino (UNITO), Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/00112-2 - Meinongian Metaontology and the paradox of negative existentials, BP.MS

Abstract

The student's research will focus on the metaontological dispute between neoquineans and neomeinongians, and intends to verify which is the best solution to the so-called paradox of negative existentials, which synthesizes the conflict between the two philosophical traditions under study. At the core of the dispute between neoquineans and neomeinongians is the thesis that quantifying over a certain domain of objects, especially in scientific contexts, ontologically commits us to the existence of such objects. Different Meinongian perspectives question this idea, and tend to accept that our best scientific or philosophical theories can also quantify over non-existent objects. This metaontological dispute directly affects several areas of philosophy of language and metaphysics, impacting especially our theories of intentionality, the way we conceive truth-makers, how we interpret fictional discourses, and how we understand abstract objects. The intended research internship aims to deepen the student's knowledge of the main theories and arguments of neomeinongian theorists, such as Graham Priest and Franz Berto - advocates of so-called Modal Meinongianism -, Dale Jacquette -, adherent of Nuclear Meinongianism -, and Edward Zalta, the main theorist of Double-Copula Meinongianism, in an attempt to verify whether they can not only satisfactorily answer the objections of neoquineans, but also to examine whether the explanatory power of their theories is equivalent or superior to that of neoquineans. (AU)