Meinong and the Principle of Independence Its Place in Meinong's Theory of Objects and its Significance in Contemporary Philosophical Logic

Alexius Meinong's philosophy made a great impression on his contemporaries in the English-speaking world, particularly Russell and Moore, but since then has been largely ignored or disparaged by analytical philosophers. In fact, however, as Karel Lambert asserts in his preface, Meinong's philosophy is a compendium of valuable and ingenious ideas bearing directly on some of the most central and profound issues of analytical philosophy. As well as aiming to revive interest in Meinong's thought, this book challenges many of the most widespread assumptions of philosophical logic. It will reopen questions about existence and the logical form for representing it which many have regarded as closed and stimulate them to rethink their positions.

Editor's Introduction; Preface; 1. Introduction: the relevance of Meinong's views to contemporary philosophy; 2. Being and independence; 3. Independence and predication: I; 4. Independence and Predication: II; 5. Independence and free logic; 6. Independence vindicated; 7. A postscript: abstraction and extensionality; Bibliography; Index.

As well as aiming to revive interest in Meinong's thought, this book challenges many of the most widespread assumptions of philosophical logic. It will reopen questions about existence and the logical form for representing it which many have regarded as closed and stimulate them to rethink their positions.