One : being an investigation into the unity of reality and of its parts, including the singular object which is nothingness

Explores philosophical questions concerning the one and the many, covering a wide range of issues in metaphysics and deploying techniques of paraconsistent logic while bringing together traditions of Western and Asian thought. Abstract: Graham Priest presents an original exploration of questions concerning the one and the many. He covers a wide range of issues in metaphysics-unity, identity, grounding, mereology, universals, being, intentionality and nothingness-and draws on Western and Asian philosophy as well as paraconsistent logic to offer a radically new treatment of unity. Read more... Cover 1 One: Being an Investigation into the Unity of Reality and of its Parts, including the Singular Object which is Nothingness 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Preface: What One Needs to Know 16 P.1 Ways to be One 16 P.2 Wholes and their Parts 17 P.3 The One of Parmenides and Plato 18 P.4 All is One 18 P.5 Paraconsistency 19 P.6 Dialetheism and the Inclosure Schema 21 P.7 Noneism 22 P.8 Characterization 23 P.9 Buddhist Philosophy I: India 24 P.10 Buddhist Philosophy II: China 26 P.11 And So . . . 28 PART I: Unity 30 1: Gluons and their Wicked Ways 34 1.1 The Illusion of Simplicity 34 1.2 Frege and the Unity of the Proposition 34 1.3 Unities and their Parts 37 1.4 The Bradley Regress 38 1.5 Explaining Unity 40 1.6 The Aporia 43 2: Identity and Gluons 45 2.1 How Gluons Glue 45 2.2 Breaking the Regress 45 2.3 Material Equivalence—Paraconsistent Style 47 2.4 Identity and Gluons 48 2.5 Gluons, Prime and Other 50 2.6 The Definition of Identity 51 2.7 Predicates and Properties 53 2.8 Objecthood Revisited 55 2.9 Looking Forwards 56 2.10 Technical Appendix: A Formal Semantics 57 2.10.1 Second-order LP 57 2.10.2 Identity 59 2.10.3 The substitutivity of identicals 59 2.10.4 Gluon models 60 2.10.5 World semantics 64 3: Form, Universals, and Instantiation 67 3.1 Aristotle into the Fray 67 3.2 Aristotle Comes Unstuck 67 3.3 Neo-Aristotelians 69 3.4 Gluons and Form 71 3.5 Universals 73 3.6 Instantiation 74 4: Being and Nothing 77 4.1 Heidegger onto the Stage 77 4.2 Simple Objects 77 4.3 Being and Unity 78 4.4 Heidegger’s Aporia 80 4.5 Being an Sich 82 4.6 Everything and Nothing 83 5: A Case of Mistaken Identity 86 5.1 The Substitutivity of Identicals 86 5.2 The History of SI 86 5.3 The Ground for SI 88 5.4 Intentionality 89 5.5 Time 91 5.6 Modality 93 5.7 Fission 95 5.8 Vagueness 97 5.9 Looking Back 99 5.10 When can SI be Applied? 99 5.11 Object-Language Identity and Metalanguage Identity 100 5.12 From Part I to Part II 102 5.13 Technical Appendix: Second-Order LPm 102 PART II: In Plato’s Trajectory 104 6: Enter Parmenides: Mereological Sums 108 6.1 The Muse of Plato 108 6.2 All Wholes and No Parts 109 6.3 The Way of Truth 109 6.4 The Partlessness of Being 112 6.5 Plato on Parmenides 113 6.6 Refocusing the Argument 117 6.7 Parthood 117 6.8 Mereological Sums 119 6.9 An Object and the Sum of its Parts 121 6.10 Plural Reference 123 6.11 An Object and its Parts 125 6.12 The Bell for the End of Round One 126 6.13 Interlude on Nothing 126 6.13.1 The empty fusion 126 6.13.2 A formal model 128 7: Problems with the Forms—and their Solutions 130 7.1 The Parmenides 130 7.2 Background 130 7.3 The Reply to Zeno (126a–130a) 133 7.4 Parmenides’ Attack, 1 (130a–131e) 136 7.5 Parmenides’ Attack, 2 (132a–133a) 138 7.6 Parmenides’ Attack, 3 (133b–135b) 141 7.7 Transition to Part Two (135c–137c) 143 7.8 From Part One to Part Two 146 8: The One—and the Others 147 8.1 The Unity of the Parmenides 147 8.2 Approaches to the Second Part of the Parmenides 147 8.3 Deduction IA (137c–142a) 150 8.4 Deduction IB (142a–155e) 152 8.5 Deduction II (157b–160b) 154 8.6 Deduction III (160b–164b) 157 8.7 Deduction IV (164b–165d) 159 8.8 Deduction IC (155e–157b) 163 8.9 The Big Picture 166 9: In Search of Falsity 169 9.1 From the Parmenides to the Sophist 169 9.2 The Unity of the Proposition Again 170 9.3 Extending the Account 172 9.4 Truth 173 9.5 Falsity: the Problem 176 9.6 Falsity: the Solution 179 9.7 Negative Properties 180 9.8 From Plato to Paraconsistency 182 10: Perception, Intentionality, and Representation 183 10.1 To Represent and be Represented 183 10.2 From the Sophist to the Theaetetus 183 10.3 Socrates’ Story of Perception 184 10.4 Noema and Object 186 10.5 Intentionality 188 10.6 Representation 189 10.7 From Part II to Part III 190 PART III: Buddhist Themes 192 11: Absence of Self, and the Net of Indra 196 11.1 Identity Again 196 11.2 Look for Your Self 197 11.3 The Illusion of Self 199 11.4 Relational Quiddity 200 11.5 Emptiness 202 11.6 Structural Trees 204 11.7 Trans-Temporal “Identity” 206 11.8 Interpenetration 207 11.9 The Net of Indra 208 12: Embracing the Groundlessness of Things 211 12.1 Problems of Emptiness 211 12.2 The Regress of Quiddities 211 12.3 The History of this Kind of Objection 212 12.4 Cosmological Arguments 213 12.5 Viciousness 215 12.6 The Regress of Relations 217 12.7 Analysing Loci 218 12.8 Nihilism Again 220 12.9 Happy Anachronism 222 13: The World, Language, and their Limits 223 13.1 Concepts and the World 223 13.2 Idealism and Realism 224 13.3 Realism, East and West 225 13.4 Idealism, East and West 226 13.5 Between the Horns 227 13.6 The Tractatus, Same and Different 228 13.7 Emptiness and Gluon Theory 230 13.8 Nāgārjuna’s Paradox 231 13.9 Tathātā 232 13.10 The Preconditions of Representation 234 13.11 The Paradox of Nothingness 236 13.12 From Metaphysics to Ethics 238 14: Peace of Mind 239 14.1 Appeals to Authority 239 14.2 The Four Noble Truths 240 14.3 Rebirth 241 14.4 Inner Peace 243 14.5 Other Goods 244 14.6 Goods Incompatible with Inner Peace 245 14.7 The Unrealistic Nature of the Ethics 248 14.8 Freedom for Life 249 15: Compassion 250 15.1 Others 250 15.2 Interconnectedness 251 15.3 From the Net of Indra to Compassion 252 15.4 The Import of Metaphysics 254 15.5 Two Observations 255 15.6 Interlude on Buddhism 256 15.7 Making Others Suffer 259 15.8 Those who Cause Suffering 260 15.9 Why be Moral? 261 15.10 Matters Socio-Political 262 Bibliography 268 Index 278 Explores Philosophical Questions Concerning The One And The Many, Covering A Wide Range Of Issues In Metaphysics And Deploying Techniques Of Paraconsistent Logic While Bringing Together Traditions Of Western And Asian Thought. Preface : What One Needs To Know -- Unity. Gluons And Their Wicked Ways ; Identity And Gluons ; Form, Universals, And Instantiation ; Being And Nothing ; A Case Of Mistaken Identity -- In Plato's Trajectory. Enter Parmenides : Mereological Sums ; Problems With The Forms--and Their Solutions ; The One--and The Others ; In Search Of Falsity -- Buddhist Themes. Absence Of Self, And The Net Of Indra ; Embracing The Groundlessness Of Things ; The World, Language, And Their Limits ; Peace Of Mind ; Compassion. Graham Priest. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 239-248) And Index. Graham Priest presents an original exploration of philosophical questions concerning __the one and the many__. He covers a wide range of issues in metaphysics--including unity, identity, grounding, mereology, universals, being, intentionality, and nothingness--and deploys the techniques of paraconsistent logic in order to offer a radically new treatment of unity. Priest brings together traditions of Western and Asian thought that are usually kept separate in academic philosophy: he draws on ideas from Plato, Heidegger, and Nagarjuna, among other philosophers.