Holes (1996-2025)

Holes are an interesting case study for ontologists and epistemologists. On the one hand, naive descriptions of the world treat holes as objects of reference and quantification, on a par with ordinary material objects ('This hole has no lid'; 'That cheese has seven holes'). Moreover, we often appeal to holes to account for causal interactions ('The hole in the roof caused a leak'), or to explain the occurrence of certain events ('The water spilled because the bucket has a hole'). All this provides initial evidence for treating holes as real entities. On the other hand, holes appear to be much more elusive than ordinary objects, ontologically as well as epistemologically; after all, they are a paradigm example of nothingness. So one may wonder whether such evidence is to be taken seriously. Should we instead think that all talk about holes is a misleading fa on de parler ?