Prof Elena Dragalina-Chernaya gave a talk at the Complutense University of Madrid

On the 1st of March Prof Elena Dragalina-Chernaya gave a talk entitled "Classifying Logical Forms: Variety of Invariance in Formal and Regional Ontologies" at the analytic philosophy workshop at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Abstract:   In the paper, I’ll try to reveal several paths of mediation between logical and phenomenological invariance principles in formal and regional ontologies. The talk will consist of two parts.

First, I’ll focus on Edmund Husserl's formal ontology which explores the domain of higher-order formal objects. These objects hypostasize region-independent forms of objects. Following Gil Sagi’s conception of form as a type of meaning which is more coarse-grained than an extension, i.e., form D (t) = {f (ext D (t)): f∈|D| D, f is a bijection} (Sagi 2021), I’ll suggest considering isomorphism types as model-theoretic analogues of categorical objects of Husserl’s formal ontology. This paper also offers an interpretation of abstract logics as higher-level classifications of logical forms. In contrast with Husserl’s thesis that logic as formal ontology “embraces the whole of formal mathematics”, I’ll address different measures for logicality in the domain of categorical objects.

Second, I'll revisit the classical debate on the synthetic (material) a priori in regional ontologies. I’ll try to emphasize the contribution that Ludwig Wittgenstein’s doctrine on internal relations makes to this debate. New perspectives are outlined that are opened by switching focus from the invariants of ontological structures to the invariants of rules-governed and goal-directed structured activity.