What Grounds What Grounds What

Bibliographic Data

ID4811036
AuthorsMichael J Clark (0000-0002-3115-1405, Universität Hamburg, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume68
Issue270
Pages38-59
Publication date2018-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Philosophical Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8094 • E-ISSN: 1467-9213
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pq/pqx031
OpenAlexW2734037500
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited17

If there are facts about what grounds what, are there any grounding relations between them? This paper suggests so, arguing that transitivity and amalgamation principles in the logic of grounding yield facts of grounding that are grounded by others. I develop and defend this view and note that combining it with extant accounts of iterated grounding commits us to seemingly problematic instances of ground-theoretic overdetermination. Taking the superinternality thesis as a case study, I discuss how defenders of this thesis should respond. It emerges that our discussion puts pressure on superinternalists to make an interesting qualification to their view: to only regard as a fundamental metaphysical law a version of the superinternality thesis that is restricted to minimal and immediate grounding.

Common ground · Epistemology · Extant taxon · Ground · Metaphysics · Overdetermination · Sociology · Transitive relation · Engineering · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub