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Relative Positionalism and Variable Arity Relations Cover

Relative Positionalism and Variable Arity Relations

By: T. Scott Dixon  
Open Access
|Dec 2019

Abstract

Maureen Donnelly’s (2016) relative positionalism correctly handles any fixed arity relation with any symmetry such a relation can have, yielding the intuitively correct way(s) in which that relation can apply. And it supplies an explanation of what is going on in the world that makes this the case. But it has at least one potential shortcoming — one that its opponents are likely to seize upon: it can only handle relations with fixed arities. It is unable to handle relations with variable arities. I argue that, all else being equal, relative positionalism ought nonetheless to be preferred to its closest competitors — at least to the extent that the explanation it supplies of relational application is plausible — even though those competitors can handle variable arity relations in addition to fixed arity relations.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/met.21 | Journal eISSN: 2515-8279
Language: English
Submitted on: Mar 31, 2019
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Accepted on: Oct 29, 2019
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Published on: Dec 6, 2019
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2019 T. Scott Dixon, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.