Phil Corkum
Biographic Data
| ID | 5655591 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Phil Corkum |
| GIVEN NAMES | Phil |
| FAMILY NAME | Corkum |
| SIGNATURE | CORKUM P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Alberta |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8509-9331 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Is Aristotle’s Syllogistic a Logic
Some of the more prominent contributions to the last fifty years of scholarship on Aristotle’s syllogistic suggest a conceptual framework under which the syllogistic is a logic, a system of inferential reasoning, only if it is not a theory, a system concerned with ontology or general facts. I argue that this a misleading interpretative framework. I begin by noting that the syllogistic exhibits one mark of contemporary logics: syllogisms are infer…
Aristotle on logical consequence
The model-theoretic definition of logical consequence provides an account of a modal conception of logical consequence in terms of a topic-neutral conception of consequence as truth preservation in all models. I argue that Aristotle also provides an account of a modal conception of consequence in terms of the semantic and metaphysical facts that validate the moods, and so is engaged in a project comparable to the model-theoretic project. There ar…
A Mereological Reading of the Dictum de Omni et Nullo
When Aristotle introduces the complete moods, he refers back to the dictum de omni et nullo , a semantic condition for universal affirmations and negations. There recently has been renewed interest in the question whether the dictum validates the assertoric syllogistic. I rehearse evidence that Aristotle provides a mereological semantics for universal affirmations and negations, and note that this semantics entails a nonstandard reading of the di…
Philosophy's past
Recent authors hold that the role of historical scholarship within contemporary philosophical practice is to question current assumptions, to expose vestiges or to calibrate intuitions. On these views, historical scholarship is dispensable , since these roles can be achieved by nonhistorical methods. And the value of historical scholarship is contingent , since the need for the role depends on the presence of questionable assumptions, vestiges or…
Is ‘cause’ ambiguous
Salience and metaphysical explanation
Ancient
A selective survey of potential historical precedents to ground in the pre-Socratics, Plato’s Euthyphro, and Aristotle’s Categories and Metaphysics. The essay also asks a methodological question: When is grounding a useful tool for ancient philosophy scholarship
Ontological Dependence and Grounding in Aristotle
The relation of ontological dependence or grounding, expressed by the terminology of separation and priority in substance, plays a central role in Aristotle’s Categories, Metaphysics, De Anima and elsewhere. The article discusses three current interpretations of this terminology. These are drawn along the lines of, respectively, modal-existential ontological dependence, essential ontological dependence, and grounding or metaphysical explanation. …
Aristotle on Predication
A predicate logic typically has a heterogeneous semantic theory. Subjects and predicates have distinct semantic roles: subjects refer; predicates characterize. A sentence expresses a truth if the object to which the subject refers is correctly characterized by the predicate. Traditional term logic, by contrast, has a homogeneous theory: both subjects and predicates refer; and a sentence is true if the subject and predicate name one and the same t…
Presentism, truthmakers and distributional properties
Substance and Independence in Aristotle
Aristotle on Mathematical Truth
Both literalism, the view that mathematical objects simply exist in the empirical world, and fictionalism, the view that mathematical objects do not exist but are rather harmless fictions, have been both ascribed to Aristotle. The ascription of literalism to Aristotle, however, commits Aristotle to the unattractive view that mathematics studies but a small fragment of the physical world; and there is evidence that Aristotle would deny the literal…
Attention, Perception, and Thought in Aristotle
In the first part of the paper, I’ll rehearse an argument that perceiving that we see and hear isn’t a special case of perception in Aristotle but is rather a necessary condition for any perception whatsoever: the turning of one’s attention to the affection of the sense organs. In the second part of the paper, I’ll consider the thesis that the activity of the active intellect is analogous to perceiving that we see and hear
Aristotle on Ontological Dependence
Aristotle holds that individual substances are ontologically independent from non-substances and universal substances but that non-substances and universal substances are ontologically dependent on substances. There is then an asymmetry between individual substances and other kinds of beings with respect to ontological dependence. Under what could plausibly be called the standard interpretation, the ontological independence ascribed to individual…
Aristotle on Ontological Dependence
Aristotle holds that individual substances are ontologically independent from non-substances and universal substances but that non-substances and universal substances are ontologically dependent on substances. There is then an asymmetry between individual substances and other kinds of beings with respect to ontological dependence. Under what could plausibly be called the standard interpretation, the ontological independence ascribed to individual…
Salience and metaphysical explanation
Presentism, truthmakers and distributional properties
Aristotle on Ontological Dependence
Aristotle holds that individual substances are ontologically independent from non-substances and universal substances but that non-substances and universal substances are ontologically dependent on substances. There is then an asymmetry between individual substances and other kinds of beings with respect to ontological dependence. Under what could plausibly be called the standard interpretation, the ontological independence ascribed to individual…
Attention, Perception, and Thought in Aristotle
In the first part of the paper, I’ll rehearse an argument that perceiving that we see and hear isn’t a special case of perception in Aristotle but is rather a necessary condition for any perception whatsoever: the turning of one’s attention to the affection of the sense organs. In the second part of the paper, I’ll consider the thesis that the activity of the active intellect is analogous to perceiving that we see and hear
Aristotle on Mathematical Truth
Both literalism, the view that mathematical objects simply exist in the empirical world, and fictionalism, the view that mathematical objects do not exist but are rather harmless fictions, have been both ascribed to Aristotle. The ascription of literalism to Aristotle, however, commits Aristotle to the unattractive view that mathematics studies but a small fragment of the physical world; and there is evidence that Aristotle would deny the literal…
Substance and Independence in Aristotle
Presentism, truthmakers and distributional properties
Aristotle on Predication
A predicate logic typically has a heterogeneous semantic theory. Subjects and predicates have distinct semantic roles: subjects refer; predicates characterize. A sentence expresses a truth if the object to which the subject refers is correctly characterized by the predicate. Traditional term logic, by contrast, has a homogeneous theory: both subjects and predicates refer; and a sentence is true if the subject and predicate name one and the same t…
Ontological Dependence and Grounding in Aristotle
The relation of ontological dependence or grounding, expressed by the terminology of separation and priority in substance, plays a central role in Aristotle’s Categories, Metaphysics, De Anima and elsewhere. The article discusses three current interpretations of this terminology. These are drawn along the lines of, respectively, modal-existential ontological dependence, essential ontological dependence, and grounding or metaphysical explanation. …
Ancient
A selective survey of potential historical precedents to ground in the pre-Socratics, Plato’s Euthyphro, and Aristotle’s Categories and Metaphysics. The essay also asks a methodological question: When is grounding a useful tool for ancient philosophy scholarship
Salience and metaphysical explanation
Is ‘cause’ ambiguous
Philosophy's past
Recent authors hold that the role of historical scholarship within contemporary philosophical practice is to question current assumptions, to expose vestiges or to calibrate intuitions. On these views, historical scholarship is dispensable , since these roles can be achieved by nonhistorical methods. And the value of historical scholarship is contingent , since the need for the role depends on the presence of questionable assumptions, vestiges or…
A Mereological Reading of the Dictum de Omni et Nullo
When Aristotle introduces the complete moods, he refers back to the dictum de omni et nullo , a semantic condition for universal affirmations and negations. There recently has been renewed interest in the question whether the dictum validates the assertoric syllogistic. I rehearse evidence that Aristotle provides a mereological semantics for universal affirmations and negations, and note that this semantics entails a nonstandard reading of the di…
Aristotle on logical consequence
The model-theoretic definition of logical consequence provides an account of a modal conception of logical consequence in terms of a topic-neutral conception of consequence as truth preservation in all models. I argue that Aristotle also provides an account of a modal conception of consequence in terms of the semantic and metaphysical facts that validate the moods, and so is engaged in a project comparable to the model-theoretic project. There ar…
Is Aristotle’s Syllogistic a Logic
Some of the more prominent contributions to the last fifty years of scholarship on Aristotle’s syllogistic suggest a conceptual framework under which the syllogistic is a logic, a system of inferential reasoning, only if it is not a theory, a system concerned with ontology or general facts. I argue that this a misleading interpretative framework. I begin by noting that the syllogistic exhibits one mark of contemporary logics: syllogisms are infer…
Epistemology (13 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Classical Philosophy and Thought (9 works) · Linguistics (7 works) · Medieval and Classical Philosophy (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (4 works) · Mathematics (4 works) · Metaphysics (4 works) · Psychology (4 works)