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Abstract Object Theory, also known as Abstract Theory and Object Theory, is a branch of metaphysics regarding abstract objects, and studied in hyperdimensional physics. Originally devised by metaphysicist Edward Zalta in 1952,[1] the theory was an expansion of mathematical Platonism. One who studies Abstract Object Theory is called an abstract theorist.
History
Mathematical Platonism & The theory of Forms
Mathematical Platonism is the form of realism that suggests that mathematical entities are abstract, have no spatiotemporal or causal properties, and are eternal and unchanging. This is often claimed to be the view most people have of numbers. The term Platonism is used because such a view is seen to parallel Plato's Theory of Forms and a "World of Ideas" (Greek: Eidos (e?d??)) described in Plato's Allegory of the cave: the everyday world can only imperfectly approximate an unchanging, ultimate reality. Both Plato's cave and Platonism have meaningful, not just superficial connections, because Plato's ideas were preceded and probably influenced by the hugely popular Pythagoreans of ancient Greece, who believed that the world was, quite literally, generated by numbers.
Theory of Abstract Objects
Abstract Objects: An Introduction to Axiomatic Metaphysics is the title of a 1952 publication by Edward Zalta that outlines Abstract Object Theory.[2]
A Paper Regarding the 10th Dimension
A Paper Regarding the 10th Dimension is the title of a 2013 paper by Trace Fleeman[3] that first attempted to unify Abstract Object Theory with Hyperdimensional physics, using the dimensions as described by Rob Bryanton. In Rob Bryanton's interpretation, the 10th dimension is point encompassing all possibilities in all possible universes[4][5]. In the paper, he uses Zalta's description of abstract objects as nonspaciotemporal substances and unifies it with Bryanton's 10th dimension existing "outside of space and time". He proposes that "there is no problem with describing all information as a point outside of space and time".[6] It is also the first publication to define information and data as abstract objects.
Types of abstract objects
In A Paper Regarding the 10th Dimension, Trace Fleeman describes a variety of abstract objects[7]:
- Properties and traits
- Concepts
- Probability
- Information or data
- Numbers
See Also
References
- ^ "The Theory of Abstract Objects". February 10th, 1999. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Rawls, John. Abstract Objects: An Introduction to Axiomatic Metaphysics. D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1952
- ^ Fleeman, Trace (2013). A Paper Regarding the 10th Dimension (as described by Rob Bryanton) (1st ed.). Retrieved March 31, 2013.
- ^ Bryanton, Rob (2006, 2007). Imagining the Tenth Dimension: a new way of thinking about time and space (1st ed.).
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|year=(help); line feed character in|title=at position 31 (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Brooke Kuei (November 12, 2012). "How Things Work: The 10th dimension". The Tartan. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
- ^ Fleeman, Trace (2013). A Paper Regarding the 10th Dimension (as described by Rob Bryanton) (1st ed.). Retrieved March 31, 2013.
- ^ Fleeman, Trace (2013). A Paper Regarding the 10th Dimension (as described by Rob Bryanton) (2nd ed.). p. 3. Retrieved March 31, 2013.