Dependence, Justification and Explanation: Must Reality be Well-Founded?

Erkenntnis 80 (3):555-572 (2015)
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Abstract

This paper is about metaphysical ‘infinitism’, the view that there are, or could be, infinite chains of ontological dependence. Its main aim is to show that, contrary to widespread opinion, metaphysical infinitism is a coherent position. On the basis of this, it is then additionally argued that metaphysical infinitism need not fare worse than the more canonical ‘foundationalist’ alternatives when it comes to formulating metaphysical explanations. In the course of the discussion, a rather unexplored parallel with the debate concerning infinitism about justification is suggested

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Matteo Morganti
Università degli Studi Roma Tre

Citations of this work

Fundamentality.Tuomas E. Tahko - 2023 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Varieties of Metaphysical Coherentism.Jan Swiderski - 2024 - Erkenntnis 89 (5):1861-1886.
Inheritance arguments for fundamentality.Kelly Trogdon - 2018 - In Ricki Bliss & Graham Priest, Reality and its Structure: Essays in Fundamentality. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 182-198.

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References found in this work

Monism: The Priority of the Whole.Jonathan Schaffer - 2010 - Philosophical Review 119 (1):31-76.
Is there a fundamental level?Jonathan Schaffer - 2003 - Noûs 37 (3):498–517.
Ontological Pluralism.Jason Turner - 2010 - Journal of Philosophy 107 (1):5-34.
Ways of being.Kris McDaniel - 2009 - In Ryan Wasserman, David Manley & David Chalmers, Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

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