Categories and ways of being
pp. 377-394
in: , Philosophy and logic in Central Europe from Bolzano to Tarski, Berlin, Springer, 1992Abstract
One of Ingarden's original contributions to ontology is his theory of existential moments, which are mainly various kinds of ontological dependence and independence. Consistent combinations of these moments yield modes of being, and in each mode to be has a different meaning. Ingarden thus belongs in the Aristotelian tradition of the multivocity of be. In Aristotle this has two layers: one discovers different logico—grammatical functions for be, the other discovers differences within the predicative existential function which correspond to the categories. These strands have tended to come apart in later philosophy. After a brief historical survey, highlighting Aristotle, Ockham, Brentano, and Ingarden, the present disorderly state of thought on both strands is reviewed, and from the history are teased a number of lessons for future investigations in both areas.