Metaphysical Grounding: Understanding the Structure of Reality

by Fabrice Correia (Editor), Benjamin Schnieder (Editor)

Overview

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, truth-making 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781139794091
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/04/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	748 KB

About the Author

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 Substanzen und (ihre) Eigenschaften (2004) and Substanz und Adhärenz: Bolzanos Ontologie des Wirklichen (2002).

Table of Contents

Grounding: an opinionated introduction Fabrice Correia and Benjamin Schnieder; 1. Guide to ground Kit Fine; 2. Scepticism about grounding Chris Daly; 3. A clarification and defense of the notion of grounding Paul Audi; 4. Grounding, transitivity, and contrastivity Jonathan Schaffer; 5. Violations of the principle of sufficient reason (in Leibniz and Spinoza) Michael Della Rocca; 6. Requirements on reality Robbie Williams; 7. Varieties of ontological dependence Kathrin Koslicki; 8. Asymmetrical dependence in individuation E. J. Lowe; 9. Simple metaphysics and 'ontological dependence' Jody Azzouni; 10. Truthmakers and dependence David Liggins; 11. Expressivism about truth-making Stephen Barker.

Editorial Reviews

"...Overall, this anthology is a welcome addition to the growing literature on ground. Reading it left me with the impression that, while our understanding of ground is still in its infancy and many important open questions remain to be answered (or even addressed), ground has nevertheless earned its stripes as a subject worthy of study.... the quality of the anthology as a whole is good.... no one working on ground should miss this book. It should also be of interest to those working on metametaphysical questions about the nature, status, and methodology of metaphysics. Even those interested in seemingly peripheral philosophical questions plausibly formulated in terms of ground might deepen their understanding of them by deepening their understanding of ground itself."
—Michael J. Raven, University of Victoria/University of Washington, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews


"...Metaphysical Grounding: Understanding the Structure of Reality is an impressive achievement, contains penetrating insight, is clearly-written, and carefully-argued."
—-George Lăzăroiu, PhD, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies in, Humanities and Social Sciences, New York, Review of Contemporary Philosophy

From the Publisher