METAPHYSICAL GROUNDING

Transcription

1 METAPHYSICAL GROUNDING Some of the most eminent and enduring philosophical questions concern matters of priority: what is prior to what? What grounds what? Is, for instance, matter prior to mind? Recently, a vivid debate has arisen about how such questions have to be understood. Can the relevant notion or notions of priority be spelled out? And how do they relate to other metaphysical notions, such as modality, truthmaking, or essence? This volume of new essays, by leading figures in contemporary metaphysics, is the first to address and investigate the metaphysical idea that certain facts are grounded in other facts. An introduction introduces and surveys the debate, examining its history as well as its central systematic aspects. The volume will be of wide interest to students and scholars of metaphysics. fabrice correia is Associate Professor at the Philosophy Department of the University of Geneva. He is the author of Existential Dependence and Cognate Notions (2005) and As Time Goes By: Eternal Facts in an Ageing Universe (with Sven Rosenkranz; 2011). benjamin schnieder is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hamburg. He is the author of Substanz und Adhärenz Bolzanos Ontologie des Wirklichen (2002) and Substanzen und (ihre) Eigenschaften (2004).

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3 METAPHYSICAL GROUNDING Understanding the Structure of Reality edited by FABRICE CORREIA University of Geneva BENJAMIN SCHNIEDER University of Hamburg

4 cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Information on this title: / # Cambridge University Press 2012 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Metaphysical grounding: understanding the structure of reality / [edited by] Fabrice Correia, Benjamin Schnieder. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn A priori. 2. Knowledge, Theory of. 3. Metaphysics. I. Correia, Fabrice. II. Schnieder, Benjamin. bd181.3.g dc isbn Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

5 Contents List of contributors page vii Grounding: an opinionated introduction 1 Fabrice Correia and Benjamin Schnieder 1 Guide to ground 37 Kit Fine 2 Scepticism about grounding 81 Chris Daly 3 A clarification and defense of the notion of grounding 101 Paul Audi 4 Grounding, transitivity, and contrastivity 122 Jonathan Schaffer 5 Violations of the Principle of Sufficient Reason (in Leibniz and Spinoza) 139 Michael Della Rocca 6 Requirements on reality 165 J. Robert G. Williams 7 Varieties of ontological dependence 186 Kathrin Koslicki 8 Asymmetrical dependence in individuation 214 E. J. Lowe 9 Simple metaphysics and ontological dependence 234 Jody Azzouni v

6 vi Contents 10 Truth-makers and dependence 254 David Liggins 11 Expressivism about making and truth-making 272 Stephen Barker Bibliography 294 Name index 306 Subject index 309

7 Contributors fabrice correia, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Geneva. benjamin schnieder, Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Hamburg. paul audi, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. jody azzouni, Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. stephen barker, Associate Professor and Reader in Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. chris daly, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester. michael della rocca, Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. kit fine, Silver Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics and Professor of Philosophy at New York University. kathrin koslicki, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado. david liggins, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Manchester. e. j. lowe, Professor of Philosophy at Durham University. jonathan schaffer, Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. j. robert g. williams, Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Leeds. vii

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