Arthur Schipper
Biographic Data
| ID | 1297273 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Arthur Schipper |
| GIVEN NAMES | Arthur |
| FAMILY NAME | Schipper |
| SIGNATURE | SCHIPPER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leiden University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6281-6676 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Realism, Truthmaking, and the Acceptability Constraint
Perceptual metaphysics
In this paper, we propose an account of how perceptual evidence might allow us to draw justified conclusions about the existence of composite objects. We call the thesis at issue PERCEPTUAL ADEQUACY, and argue that a specific, naïve realist picture of the phenomenal character of perception provides us with a straightforward way to defend it. The claim that we have empirical evidence for the existence of macroscopic composites cannot be propped up…
Acting on reasons
There is a wide variety of cases of alienation, including (a) when an agent is alienated from her own motivational states and (b) deviant causal cases when an agent's motivational states cause her intended actions but via a deviant causal pathway. Reflecting on the variety of kinds of alienation reveals that action explanation still needs to account for the positive role that agents play in non‐alienated actions in general. To fill this gap, this…
An Abductive Defence of Truthmaker Realism
This paper presents an abductive argument for realism and truthmaker realism as follows. A metaphysical theory is better if it ontologically accounts for truths better than its rivals (the Abductive Principle). Truthmaker realism gives us a better ontological account for truths than its antirealist truthmaker rivals (Abductive Step). So, truthmaker realism is better than antirealist rivals. It presents the truthmaker project as an abductive proje…
Singular Terms and Ontological Seriousness
Linguistic ontologists and antilinguistic, ‘serious’ ontologists both accept the inference from ‘Fido is a dog’ to ‘Fido has the property of being a dog’ but disagree about its ontological consequences. In arguing that we are committed to properties on the basis of these transformations, linguistic ontologists employ a neo-Fregean meta-ontological principle, on which the function of singular terms is to refer. To reject this, serious ontologists …
Necessitation and the Changing Past
A central tenet of truthmaker theory is that necessitation is necessary for truthmaking ( nec ). This paper defends nec in a novel, piecemeal way, namely by responding to a potential counterexample involving a changing past. If Carter won a race at t1 but is later disqualified at t2 , then Carter no longer won at t1 . A wholly past event seems to have changed in the future. The event makes ‘Carter won the race at t1 ’ ( race ) true between t1‐2 b…
Fundamental truthmakers and non-fundamental truths
Recently, philosophers have tried to develop a version of truthmaker theory which ties the truthmaking relation ( T - REL ) closely to the notion of fundamentality. In fact, some of these truthmaker-fundamentalists ( TF -ists), as I call them, assume that the notion of fundamentality is intelligible in part by citing, as central examples of fundamentals, truthmakers, which they understand necessarily as constituents of fundamental reality. The ai…
Aboutness and negative truths
A central problem for any truthmaker theory is the problem of negative truths (P-NEG). In this paper, I develop a novel, piecemeal strategy for solving this problem. The strategy puts central focus on a truth-relevant notion of aboutness within a metaphysically modest version of truthmaker theory and uses key conceptual tools gained by taking a deeper look at the best attempts to solve the problem of intentionality. I begin this task by criticall…
The Equal Society
The Equal Society collects fourteen new essays with the general aim of improving the orthodox distributive approach to egalitarianism. It applies it to real-world issues (e.g., poverty-based, gender, racial, educational, epistemic, and workplace inequalities) and connects it with recent currents in egalitarian thought, including African ethics and relational egalitarianism, which takes social relations rather than distributable goods as primary f…
The Equal Society
The Equal Society collects fourteen new essays with the general aim of improving the orthodox distributive approach to egalitarianism. It applies it to real-world issues (e.g., poverty-based, gender, racial, educational, epistemic, and workplace inequalities) and connects it with recent currents in egalitarian thought, including African ethics and relational egalitarianism, which takes social relations rather than distributable goods as primary f…
Aboutness and negative truths
A central problem for any truthmaker theory is the problem of negative truths (P-NEG). In this paper, I develop a novel, piecemeal strategy for solving this problem. The strategy puts central focus on a truth-relevant notion of aboutness within a metaphysically modest version of truthmaker theory and uses key conceptual tools gained by taking a deeper look at the best attempts to solve the problem of intentionality. I begin this task by criticall…
The Equal Society
The Equal Society collects fourteen new essays with the general aim of improving the orthodox distributive approach to egalitarianism. It applies it to real-world issues (e.g., poverty-based, gender, racial, educational, epistemic, and workplace inequalities) and connects it with recent currents in egalitarian thought, including African ethics and relational egalitarianism, which takes social relations rather than distributable goods as primary f…
Aboutness and negative truths
A central problem for any truthmaker theory is the problem of negative truths (P-NEG). In this paper, I develop a novel, piecemeal strategy for solving this problem. The strategy puts central focus on a truth-relevant notion of aboutness within a metaphysically modest version of truthmaker theory and uses key conceptual tools gained by taking a deeper look at the best attempts to solve the problem of intentionality. I begin this task by criticall…
Fundamental truthmakers and non-fundamental truths
Recently, philosophers have tried to develop a version of truthmaker theory which ties the truthmaking relation ( T - REL ) closely to the notion of fundamentality. In fact, some of these truthmaker-fundamentalists ( TF -ists), as I call them, assume that the notion of fundamentality is intelligible in part by citing, as central examples of fundamentals, truthmakers, which they understand necessarily as constituents of fundamental reality. The ai…
Necessitation and the Changing Past
A central tenet of truthmaker theory is that necessitation is necessary for truthmaking ( nec ). This paper defends nec in a novel, piecemeal way, namely by responding to a potential counterexample involving a changing past. If Carter won a race at t1 but is later disqualified at t2 , then Carter no longer won at t1 . A wholly past event seems to have changed in the future. The event makes ‘Carter won the race at t1 ’ ( race ) true between t1‐2 b…
Singular Terms and Ontological Seriousness
Linguistic ontologists and antilinguistic, ‘serious’ ontologists both accept the inference from ‘Fido is a dog’ to ‘Fido has the property of being a dog’ but disagree about its ontological consequences. In arguing that we are committed to properties on the basis of these transformations, linguistic ontologists employ a neo-Fregean meta-ontological principle, on which the function of singular terms is to refer. To reject this, serious ontologists …
An Abductive Defence of Truthmaker Realism
This paper presents an abductive argument for realism and truthmaker realism as follows. A metaphysical theory is better if it ontologically accounts for truths better than its rivals (the Abductive Principle). Truthmaker realism gives us a better ontological account for truths than its antirealist truthmaker rivals (Abductive Step). So, truthmaker realism is better than antirealist rivals. It presents the truthmaker project as an abductive proje…
Perceptual metaphysics
In this paper, we propose an account of how perceptual evidence might allow us to draw justified conclusions about the existence of composite objects. We call the thesis at issue PERCEPTUAL ADEQUACY, and argue that a specific, naïve realist picture of the phenomenal character of perception provides us with a straightforward way to defend it. The claim that we have empirical evidence for the existence of macroscopic composites cannot be propped up…
Acting on reasons
There is a wide variety of cases of alienation, including (a) when an agent is alienated from her own motivational states and (b) deviant causal cases when an agent's motivational states cause her intended actions but via a deviant causal pathway. Reflecting on the variety of kinds of alienation reveals that action explanation still needs to account for the positive role that agents play in non‐alienated actions in general. To fill this gap, this…
Realism, Truthmaking, and the Acceptability Constraint
Epistemology (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Philosophy and Theoretical Science (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics (4 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (4 works) · Cognitive science (3 works) · Linguistics (3 works) · Metaphysics (3 works) · Psychology (3 works)