On What There Is
E1036181
"On What There Is" is a seminal 1948 philosophical paper by W.V.O. Quine that challenges traditional notions of ontology and argues that a theory’s commitments to what exists are revealed by the bound variables in its quantificational logic.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| On What There Is canonical | 7 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T13371978 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On What There Is Context triple: [Existence and Quantification, relatedWork, On What There Is]
-
A.
The Way Things Are
"The Way Things Are" is a track from Fiona Apple's album *When the Pawn...*, showcasing her introspective lyrics and distinctive piano-driven alternative style.
-
B.
What Is There to Say
"What Is There to Say" is a jazz album by virtuoso guitarist Joe Pass, showcasing his sophisticated improvisation and harmonic mastery.
-
C.
Something There
"Something There" is a romantic duet from the stage musical adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, in which Belle and the Beast begin to recognize their growing affection for each other.
-
D.
When There’s Nothing Left
"When There’s Nothing Left" is a song from Christian pop singer Katy Hudson’s self-titled debut album released before she adopted the stage name Katy Perry.
-
E.
Here and There
"Here and There" is a short story by David Foster Wallace, included in his collection *Girl with Curious Hair*, that explores themes of communication, perception, and emotional distance.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On What There Is Target entity description: "On What There Is" is a seminal 1948 philosophical paper by W.V.O. Quine that challenges traditional notions of ontology and argues that a theory’s commitments to what exists are revealed by the bound variables in its quantificational logic.
-
A.
The Way Things Are
"The Way Things Are" is a track from Fiona Apple's album *When the Pawn...*, showcasing her introspective lyrics and distinctive piano-driven alternative style.
-
B.
What Is There to Say
"What Is There to Say" is a jazz album by virtuoso guitarist Joe Pass, showcasing his sophisticated improvisation and harmonic mastery.
-
C.
Something There
"Something There" is a romantic duet from the stage musical adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, in which Belle and the Beast begin to recognize their growing affection for each other.
-
D.
When There’s Nothing Left
"When There’s Nothing Left" is a song from Christian pop singer Katy Hudson’s self-titled debut album released before she adopted the stage name Katy Perry.
-
E.
Here and There
"Here and There" is a short story by David Foster Wallace, included in his collection *Girl with Curious Hair*, that explores themes of communication, perception, and emotional distance.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
academic article
ⓘ
philosophical paper ⓘ |
| addresses |
problem of nonexistent objects
ⓘ
question of what there is ⓘ |
| argumentativeStrategy |
reinterprets ordinary existential claims in logical notation
ⓘ
uses formal logic to clarify ontological disputes ⓘ |
| author |
W. V. O. Quine
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Willard Van Orman Quine NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| canonicalStatus |
classic paper in analytic metaphysics
ⓘ
widely anthologized in philosophy collections ⓘ |
| centralClaim |
A theory’s ontological commitments are revealed by the values of its bound variables in quantificational logic
ⓘ
To be is to be the value of a bound variable ⓘ |
| centralTopic |
existence
ⓘ
ontological commitment ⓘ ontology ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| criticizes |
Meinongian ontology
ⓘ
acceptance of nonexistent objects ⓘ |
| field | philosophy ⓘ |
| impact |
shaped the methodology of analytic ontology in the 20th century
ⓘ
standard reference point in discussions of ontological commitment ⓘ |
| influenced |
contemporary analytic metaphysics
ⓘ
ontological commitment debates ⓘ philosophy of language ⓘ philosophy of logic ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Bertrand Russell
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Rudolf Carnap NERFINISHED ⓘ logical positivism ⓘ |
| introducesConcept | criterion of ontological commitment ⓘ |
| keyDistinction |
distinction between linguistic expressions and their ontological commitments
ⓘ
distinction between use and mention in ontological discourse ⓘ |
| keySlogan | To be is to be the value of a bound variable ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| methodologicalThesis | Ontological questions are to be settled by examining the quantificational structure of our best theories ⓘ |
| philosophicalStance |
naturalistic approach to ontology
ⓘ
rejection of vague talk about existence in favor of formal criteria ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| positionOnOntology |
ontological commitment is theory-relative
ⓘ
ontology should be guided by regimented scientific theories ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1948 ⓘ |
| publishedIn | Review of Metaphysics NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedWorkOfAuthor |
Two Dogmas of Empiricism
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Word and Object NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| subfield |
metaphysics
ⓘ
ontology ⓘ |
| usesFramework | first-order quantificational logic ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: On What There Is Description of subject: "On What There Is" is a seminal 1948 philosophical paper by W.V.O. Quine that challenges traditional notions of ontology and argues that a theory’s commitments to what exists are revealed by the bound variables in its quantificational logic.
Referenced by (7)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Notes on the Theory of Reference
subject surface form:
Designation and Existence