The Question of Realism

Fine, Kit

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-1866-0_1

Cited by 198 publications

(260 citation statements)

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“…Grounding has been assumed to be a relation between various sorts of things, including actual concrete objects (as in Schaffer, 2010), facts (as in Fine, 2001), properties, states of affairs and tropes. I will stay neutral, so far as possible, about the relata of the grounding relation, and will assume that every entity in the domain (s) under discussion (be it facts, objects, states of affairs etc., or any combination) enters into grounding relations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Metaphysical Interdependence

Thompson¹

2016

Reality Making

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It is commonly assumed that grounding relations are asymmetric. Here I develop and argue for a theory of metaphysical structure that takes grounding to be nonsymmetric rather than asymmetric. Even without infinite descending chains of dependence, it might be that every entity is grounded in some other entity. Having first addressed an immediate objection to the position under discussion, I introduce two examples of symmetric grounding. I give three arguments for the view that grounding is nonsymmetric (I call this view 'metaphysical interdependence'). These arguments are: (i) that metaphysical interdependence is the only theory able to reconcile competing intuitions about grounding; (ii) that it is the only theory consistent with both 'gunk' and 'junk'; and (iii) that offers a satisfactory solution to the problem concerning whether or not grounding is itself grounded.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…x grounds y) whilst others (e.g. Fine, 2001;2012;DeRosset, 2013) prefer to express grounding claims using a sentential connective such as 'because' or 'in virtue of '. 2 Grounding is usually taken to be transitive, irreflexive and asymmetric (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metaphysical Interdependence

Thompson¹

2016

Reality Making

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“…Although in saying this we do describe reality, we do not describe fundamental reality. 4 Fundamental reality bears a special explanatory relationship to nonfundamental or derivative reality: the way derivative reality is may be 2 For discussion of metaphysical explanation and of the related notion of ground, see Fine (2001Fine ( , 2012, Schaffer (2009), Rosen (2010), and Wilson (2014). I should note that the term 'metaphysical explanation' is misleading on two counts.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…For the latter, see Audi (2012aAudi ( , 2012b. 4 For discussion of fundamentality see Fine (2001), Schaffer (2010), and Sider (2011). metaphysically explained in terms of the way fundamental reality is. We will express this explanatory relationship by saying that fundamental reality is complete.…”

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confidence: 99%