An Ontology of Ideas

Philosophers often talk about and engage with ideas. Scientists, artists, and historians do, too. So does practically everyone else. But what is an idea? In this paper, we develop and motivate an ontology of ideas that satisfies various platitudes associated with the idea of ideas, and does so within an ontologically parsimonious framework. We then go on to discuss some nuances of the account, focusing particularly on the individuation and survival conditions of ideas