Object is a technical term Technical terminology is the specialized vocabulary of a field, the nomenclature. These terms have specific definitions within the field, which is not necessarily the same as their meaning in common use. Jargon is similar, but more informal in definition and use, while legal terms of art or words of art have meanings that are strictly defined by used in epistemology Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge. It addresses the questions:, a branch of philosophy Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing fundamental questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. The word "philosophy" comes from the concerning itself with the study of knowing. Aristotle Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most had said,^[1] "All men by nature desire to know." René Descartes René Descartes , (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650), also known as Renatus Cartesius (Latinized form; adjectival form: "Cartesian"), was a French philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the "Father of Modern Philosophy", and much of expanded this knowing into the grounds of certainty with cogito ergo sum Cogito ergo sum , often mistakenly stated as Dubito ergo cogito ergo sum (English: "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am"), is a philosophical statement in Latin used by René Descartes, which became a foundational element of Western philosophy. The simple meaning of the phrase is that if someone is wondering whether or not they, typically translated as "I think therefore I am." The thinker cannot be certain of his thinking and his existing unless he knows it; that is, the very act of thinking delivers self-knowledge to the thinker. Descartes formulated this grounds as an answer to the dream doubt The "dream argument" is the postulation that the act of dreaming provides preliminary evidence that the senses we trust to distinguish reality from illusion should not be fully trusted, and therefore any state that is dependent on our senses should at the very least be carefully examined and rigorously tested to determine if it is in, which questions whether anything can be identified as real and not a dream. However, one cannot dream without thinking.

Consciousness Consciousness is variously defined as subjective experience, awareness, the ability to experience "feeling", wakefulness, or the executive control system of the mind. It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena. Although humans realize what everyday experiences are, consciousness refuses to be defined, therefore is an act of cognition Cognition is the scientific term for "the process of thought." Usage of the term varies in different disciplines; for example in psychology and cognitive science, it usually refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions. Other interpretations of the meaning of cognition link it to the development of that takes in the self, which can never be doubted, as it would have to be the self who doubts, and some doubtable notes, which philosophy calls objects, which carry with them the understood possibility of being in error The word error has different meanings and usages relative to how it is conceptually applied. The concrete meaning of the Latin word error is "wandering" or "straying". To the contrary of an illusion, an error or a mistake can sometimes be dispelled through knowledge . However, some errors can occur even when individuals have. If not in error they are granted the status of objectivity, or reality Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or may be thought to be. In its widest definition, reality includes everything that is and has being, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible, and are believed to exist without reference to the subject. Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, socialist, pacifist, and social critic. He spent most of his life in England; he was born in Wales where he also died, aged 97 updated this classical term with one more in use by science: the fact The word fact can refer to verified information about past or present circumstances or events which are presented as objective reality. In science, it means a provable concept.:^[2] "Everything that there is in the world I call a fact." Facts, objects, are opposed to beliefs Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, which may be errors on the part of the knower; as their source is he, and he is the subject (who is certain of himself and little else), they are subjective.

This framework of presumptions is termed the Theory of the Real Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or may be thought to be. In its widest definition, reality includes everything that is and has being, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible.^[3] One cannot even doubt it without implying it, as all doubt implies the possibility of error and therefore admits the distinction between subject and object, subjectivity and objectivity. The knower, whether considered mind, soul, thinker or some other subject, is limited in his ability to discern fact from belief, objects from true objects. An individual engages in reality testing, an activity that will result in more or less certainty regarding the reality of the object. According to Russell,^[4] "we need a description of the fact which would make a given belief true" where "Truth is a property of beliefs." Knowledge is "true beliefs".^[5]

Until that distinction can be made, every object must be viewed as possibly true; that is, a quasi-object. This credibility extends even to the notes that are known to be subjective; that is, the population of knowers (or thinkers, etc.) or individual knowers may agree or determine to create a logical or rational entity An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, though it need not be a material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate. Entities are used in system developmental models that display communications and internal to be treated as quasi-real; for example, a corporation, a fund, a population of elves, etc. These are typically the subjects of cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is one of four or five fields of anthropology . It is the branch of anthropology that examines culture as a meaningful scientific concept.

Where object in a strict sense is used to refer to independent being Being , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective aspects fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living". In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it refers to a discrete life form that has properties of mind (, in a general sense it is any entity An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, though it need not be a material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate. Entities are used in system developmental models that display communications and internal subjective or objective. Thus objects are things as diverse as the pyramids A pyramid is a structure where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces (at least four faces including the base). The square pyramid, with square base and four triangular outer surfaces, is a, Alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. To the unaided eye it appears as a single star, whose total visual magnitude would identify it as the third brightest star in the night sky. Alpha Centauri is also a binary star system, designated Alpha Centauri A (α Cen A) and Alpha Centauri B (α Cen B), or Alpha, the number seven 7 is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8, a disbelief in predestination Predestination is a religious concept, which involves the relationship between God and God's creation. The religious character of predestination distinguishes it from other ideas about determinism and free will. Those who believe in predestination, such as John Calvin, believe that, before the Creation, God determined the fate of the universe, and the fear of dogs The fear of dogs is a natural emotion, because dogs are potentially dangerous. The abnormal fear of dogs, i.e., a specific phobia related to dogs, is called cynophobia. The pragmatist Pragmatism is a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that impractical ideas are to be rejected. Pragmatism, in William James' eyes, was that the truth of an idea Charles S. Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce (September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Peirce was educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for 30 years. It is largely his contributions to logic, mathematics, philosophy, and semiotics (and his founding of defines the broad notion of an object as anything that we can think or talk about.^[6]

Objecthood

In ontology Ontology (from the Greek ὄν, genitive ὄντος: "of being" and -λογία, -logia: science, study, theory) is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality in general, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as, objecthood is the state of being an object. Metaphysical frameworks differ in whether they consider objects to exist independently of their properties and, if so, in the nature of that existence.

In ontologies that include objects as a fundamental category of entity, the nature of objecthood determines the types of claims that can be made about objects in general. The following conversation illustrates two incompatible metaphysical schemes:

Philosopher A sees a white flash.

Philosopher A: What was that object?

Philosopher B: A bicycle.

Philosopher A: No, it was clearly a motorbike.

Philosopher B: Well, you are not really being objective Objectivity is both a central and elusive philosophical category. While there is no universally accepted articulation of objectivity, a proposition is generally considered to be objectively true when its truth conditions are "mind-independent"—that is, not the result of any judgments made by a conscious entity or subject. Contrary to.

Objects as properties and relations

One approach to defining objecthood is in terms of objects' properties and relations. Bodies, for example, have properties and relations. It seems that descriptions of all bodies, minds, and persons must be in terms of their properties and relations. For example, it seems that the only way to describe an apple is by describing its properties and how it is related to other things. Its properties may include its redness, its size, and its composition, while its relations may include "on the table", "in the room", and "being bigger than other apples".

The philosophical question of the nature of objecthood concerns how objects are related to their properties and relations. For example, ignoring relations for simplicity, the nature of objecthood includes the nature of the relationship between objects and their properties.

Problems of objecthood

The notion of an object is a primitive concept in some ontologies,^[which?] that is, it is meaningful but cannot be explained in terms of anything else. Whether a metaphysical scheme includes objecthood as a primitive concept, and if so the specific nature the scheme gives objecthood, is what most differentiates the various ontologies. The properties of objecthood apply to all objects, by definition.

Theories of objecthood address two problems:

• the change problem
• the problem of substance

The change problem

Properties of an object are the attributes of it that can be experienced (e.g. its color, size, weight, smell, taste, and location). Objects manifest themselves as clusters of their properties. Those clusters seem to change in a regular and unified way, suggesting that something underlies the properties. The change problem asks what that underlying thing is. According to substance theory Substance theory, or substance attribute theory, is an ontological theory about objecthood, positing that a substance is distinct from its properties. This is part of essentialism in that ousia as a substance can also be a descriptor of an object's being and/or nature. As substance or ousia is a permanent property of an object without which the, the answer is a substance, that which stands under the change.

The problem of substance

Because substances are only experienced through their properties, a substance itself is never directly experienced. The problem of substance asks on what basis can one conclude the existence of a substance cannot be seen or scientifically verified. According to bundle theory Bundle theory, originated by the 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume, is the ontological theory about objecthood in which an object consists only of a collection of properties, relations or tropes, the answer is: none; thus an object is merely its properties.

Some philosophies^[which?] include theories of both bodies (physical substances) and minds Mind is the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination, including all unconscious cognitive processes. The term is often used to refer, by implication, to the thought processes of reason. Mind manifests itself subjectively as a stream of consciousness (mental substances). So, the problem of substance arises in both the physical and the mental realms.

Substance theory vs. bundle theory

Whether objects are just collections of properties or separate from those properties appears to be a strict dichotomy. That is, it seems that objects must be either collections of properties or something else. The leading theories about objecthood are substance theory Substance theory, or substance attribute theory, is an ontological theory about objecthood, positing that a substance is distinct from its properties. This is part of essentialism in that ousia as a substance can also be a descriptor of an object's being and/or nature. As substance or ousia is a permanent property of an object without which the, wherein substances (objects) are distinct from their properties, and bundle theory Bundle theory, originated by the 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume, is the ontological theory about objecthood in which an object consists only of a collection of properties, relations or tropes, wherein objects are no more than bundles of their properties.

Nagarjuna

In the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā , or Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, is a key text by Nagarjuna, one of the most important Buddhist philosophers. It now stands at the centre of modern philosophical analysis of the Mādhyamaka philosophy,[citation needed] which is rapidly proliferating to match the rich and varied commentarial tradition that the Nagarjuna Acharya Nāgārjuna (ca. 150–250 CE) was an Indian philosopher who founded the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism[citation needed] seizes this dichotomy (objects are either just collections of properties or that they are separate from those properties) in a Tetralemma A similar tradition of fourfold negation, the Catuskoti , is evident in the logico-epistemological tradition of India, given the categorical nomenclature 'Indian logic' in Western discourse. Subsumed within the auspice of Indian logic, 'Buddhist logic' has been particularly focused in its employ of the fourfold negation, as evidenced by the to demonstrate that both assertions fall apart under analysis. By uncovering this paradox, he then provides a solution (pratītyasamutpāda The doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda , often translated as "dependent arising", is a cardinal doctrine in Buddhism, that refers to the causal relations between the psychophysical phenomena that sustain dukkha (dissatisfaction) in worldly experience. It is variously rendered into English as "dependent arising", "conditioned - dependent origination ) which lies at the very root of Buddhist Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by adherents as an praxis.

Although pratītyasamutpāda is normally limited to caused objects, Nagarjuna extends his argument to objects in general by differentiating Pratītyasamutpāda The doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda , often translated as "dependent arising", is a cardinal doctrine in Buddhism, that refers to the causal relations between the psychophysical phenomena that sustain dukkha (dissatisfaction) in worldly experience. It is variously rendered into English as "dependent arising", "conditioned into two distinct ideas - dependent designation and dependent origination (MMK 24-18 The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā , or Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, is a key text by Nagarjuna, one of the most important Buddhist philosophers. It now stands at the centre of modern philosophical analysis of the Mādhyamaka philosophy,[citation needed] which is rapidly proliferating to match the rich and varied commentarial tradition that the). He proposes that all objects are dependent upon designation, and therefore any discussion regarding the nature of objects can only be made in light of context. The validity of objects can only be established within those conventions that assert them.^[7]

Other applications

Value theory

Value theory Value theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how, why, and to what degree humans should value things, whether the thing is a person, idea, object, or anything else. This investigation began in ancient philosophy, where it is called axiology or ethics. Early philosophical investigations sought to understand good and evil, and the concerns the value of objects. When it concerns economic value The economic value of a good or service has puzzled economists since the beginning of the discipline. First, economists tried to estimate the value of a good to an individual alone, and extend that definition to goods which can be exchanged. From this analysis came the concepts value in use and value in exchange, it generally deals with physical objects In physics, a physical body or physical object is a collection of masses, taken to be one. For example, a cricket ball can be considered an object but the ball also consists of many particles (pieces of matter). However, when concerning philosophic or ethic value In ethics, value is a property of objects, including physical objects as well as abstract objects , representing their degree of importance, an object may be both a physical object In physics, a physical body or physical object is a collection of masses, taken to be one. For example, a cricket ball can be considered an object but the ball also consists of many particles (pieces of matter) and an abstract object An abstract object is an object which does not exist at any particular time or place, but rather exists as a type of thing . In philosophy, an important distinction is whether an object is considered abstract or concrete. Abstract objects are sometimes called abstracta (sing. abstractum) and concrete objects are sometimes called concreta (sing (e.g. an action).

Physics

Limiting discussions of objecthood to the realm of physical objects may simplify them. However, defining physical objects in terms of fundamental particles In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles. If an elementary particle truly has no substructure, then it is one of the basic building blocks of the universe from which all other particles are made. In the Standard (e.g. quarks A quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never found in isolation; they can only be found within hadrons. For) leaves open the question of what is the nature of a fundamental particle In philosophy, the philosophy of physics studies the fundamental philosophical questions underlying modern physics, the study of matter and energy and how they interact. The philosophy of physics begins by reflecting on the basic metaphysical and epistemological questions posed by physics: causality, determinism, and the nature of physical law. It and thus asks what categories of being can be used to explain physical objects.

Semantics

Symbols A symbol is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On maps, crossed sabres may indicate a battlefield. Numerals are symbols for numbers . All language consists of symbols represent objects; how they do so, the map-territory relation, is the basic problem of semantics.

Notes

1. ^ Metaphysics, Book I, Section 1 (Paragraph 980a)
2. ^ Russell 1948, p. 143.
3. ^ Taylor 1903, pp. 16-17
4. ^ Russell 1948, pp. 148-149.
5. ^ Russell 1948, p. 154.
6. ^ Peirce, Charles S.. "Object". University of Helsinki. http://www.helsinki.fi/science/commens/terms/object.html. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
7. ^ Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies pp296-297 - Karl H. Potter, Harold G Coward

References

• Russell, Bertrand (1948). Human Knowledge Its Scope and Limits. New York: Simon and Schuster.
• Taylor, Alfred Edward (1903). Elements of metaphysics. London: Methuen & Co..

See also

• Abstraction
• Category theory
• Continuous predicate
• Concept
• Hypostatic abstraction
• Hypostasis
• Objectivity (philosophy)
• Reification
• Sign relation
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Subject (grammar)
• Subject (philosophy)

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