Carlota G. Llorente
Complutense University of Madrid
Natural language has always been one of the major contributors to the research on ontology. However, many authors consider it as a misleading guide for the study of what there is. The conception of natural language as a trap is carried over to the present day, where contemporary metaontological studies reject natural language as ontologically committing. From a deflationary perspective, this paper aims to present a way in which ontological commitment occurs in natural languages, implying consequences for the linguistic relativity hypothesis. For this purpose, a hybrid perspective based on Quine’s naturalized epistemology and complemented by a new stance suggested by Moltmann (Natural Language Ontology) will be presented. I will modify some aspects of both perspectives in order to offer a sound approach, and finally I will conclude by pointing out that there may be a linguistic bias surrounding the proposed ontological commitment criteria.
Chair: Elena Garadja
Time: September 6th, 16:50-17:20
Location: HS E.002
SOPhiA 2026 