Theories as Abstract Entities
Steven French · 2020
Abstract In this chapter a well-known dilemma is presented for musical works, involving their purported abstract nature and creativity. A similar dilemma is presented for scientific theories and various ways of resolving both dilemmas are canvassed. One is to take artworks and theories to be abstract and understand the creative act in terms of the author’s situation in some abstract space. Another is to insist that both are imaginary things and that appreciation of either involves intelligent reconstruction. Such views not only involve ontological proliferation but also fail to accommodate the heuristic processes involved.