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GROUNDING TRUTHMAKING a Dissertation Submitted to The GROUNDING TRUTHMAKING A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Bradley Rettler Michael Rea, Director Graduate Program in Philosophy Notre Dame, Indiana February © Copyright by Bradley Rettler Some Rights Reserved This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike . Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/./ GROUNDING TRUTHMAKING Abstract by Bradley Rettler This is a dissertation in meta-ontology. In it, I attempt to develop some alternative rules to the standard Quinean meta-ontology. The alternative is intended to allow for a minimal ontology, while still maintaining fit with folk discourse. I hope that this dissertation will help to make such alternative rules precise, and understandable to Quineans, most of whom consider such talk to be “murky metaphysical waters”. The new rules revolve around the relation of ground. In Chapter , I discuss my understanding of grounding. The majority of attempts at articulating a theory of grounding have treated ‘grounds’ as univocal. There has been a recent attempt to argue that ‘grounds’ does not refer. I argue against both of these options, and defend a third: ‘grounds’ is univocal, and grounding is a genus. In Chapter , I turn my attention to one species of grounding—truthmaking. I argue that the measure of ontological commitment is not what a theory says exists, but what a theory requires as truthmakers. A person is ontologically committed to the existence, in the fundamental sense of ‘existence’, of there being truthmakers for the sentences of her theory. In Chapter , I turn my attention to the question of what sort of things these truthmakers are. Generally, truthmaker theorists have accepted truthmaker neces- sitarianism, which has led them to reify states of affairs, facts, or tropes. But these things are dubious posits. I want to retain truthmaking, but I give four arguments Bradley Rettler against truthmaker necessitarianism. This allows us to admit only substances into our ontology. In Chapter , I discuss the language of the ontology room. The received view was that the language of the ontology room is English: words mean the same thing when doing ontology as they do at the fireworks show. I argue for an alternative: when we’re doing ontology, we’re not using ‘exists’ the same way others do, or the same way we do when we’re not doing ontology. I also say what ‘exists’ means inside the ontology room: it’s a restriction of the quantifier at the fireworks show. For my parents, Steve and Sherry Rettler, without whom I would not have even one degree in philosophy. ii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . v INTRODUCTION . CHAPTER : HOW TO THINK ABOUT GROUNDING . . Grounding as Univocal . .. Defending the Principles . .. Counterexamples . ... Brain States and Mental States . ... Shapes . ... Everything Exists . ... There Are Facts . ... General Facts . .. Points of Disagreement . .. The Options . . No Work for a Theory of Grounding? . . Grounding as Genus . .. Ontological Dependence . .. Truthmaking . .. Reductive Analysis . .. Metaphysical Explanation . . Is Grounding a Genus? . . Conclusion . CHAPTER : TRUTHMAKERS AND ONTOLOGICAL COMMITMENT . . The Ontological Question . . Ontological Commitment . . Two Ways of Understanding Truthmaker Views . .. Denying () . .. Denying () . . The Meinongian Contrast . . The Quinean Contrast . . Advantages of Truthmaker Views . . Other Truthmaker Views . .. The Specific Truthmaker View . iii .. John Heil’s View . .. David Armstrong’s View . .. Ross Cameron’s View . . Conclusion . CHAPTER : TRUTHMAKERS AND SUBSTANCES . . Introduction . . The Argument . . Truthmaking . . Truthmaking and Grounding . . Truthmaking and Substances . .. The Criteria of Substancehood . .. Substances as Truthmakers . . Ultimate Truthmakers and Intermediate Truthmakers . . Objections and Replies . .. Objection : Truthmaker Necessitarianism . .. Objection : Explanation . .. Full Truthmaking and Partial Truthmaking . . Conclusion . CHAPTER : THE FUNDAMENTAL QUANTIFIER . . What is the Fundamental Quantifier? . . The Semantics of Quantifier Restriction . .. A Brief Overview of Quantifier Restriction . .. A Brief Overview of the Semantics of Quantifier Restriction . .. Syntactic Explanation . .. Semantic Explanation . .. Pragmatic Explanation . .. The Semantics of Quantifier Restriction and the Fundamental Quantifier . . Ways of Restricting Quantifiers . .. Inferential Restriction . .. Restriction to a Predicate . .. Domain Restriction . . The Fundamental Quantifier is a Restricted Quantifier . .. Inferential Restriction . .. Restriction to a Predicate . .. Domain Restriction . .. The Fundamental Quantifier is a Restricted Quantifier . . Toward a Stronger Conclusion . . The Quinean Contrast . . Conclusion . BIBLIOGRAPHY . iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation started (in one of the broader senses of ‘started’) in , when professors Wilbert Ratledge, Arnold Hustad, and Lem Usita told me that I ought to go to graduate school. Though neither my grades nor my effort had been great, they thought I could change. Because of their prompting, I decided to apply; my heartfelt thanks to them for starting me on this path. Despite not having taken a philosophy class as an undergraduate, I chose to do an M.A. in the subject—but I had to wait a year. During that year I worked as a landscaper, and Brian Kurbis was my roommate and first philosophical conversation partner. He taught me how incredibly important it was to think carefully about the things most important to us, and how much fun it could be to discuss them. We spent hours at Old Chicago© arguing over beers, which prepared me well for life as a philosopher. When I got to my M.A. program, I was fortunate to be surrounded by students with passion and enthusiasm for philosophy, and dedication to helping each other learn how to do philosophy and to figure out the truth. In particular, I spent many hours on the porch with my roommates John Craw, David Gilbert, Jon LaSalle, and Craig Mather, talking over the ideas in class and exploring new ones. My writing sample for Ph.D. programs came from conversation with Jon, and he read several drafts; I doubt I’d be in any Ph.D. program without him. I also cannot overstate the impact that Tom Crisp had on my personal and philosophical development during the generous amount of time he spent with me, modeling how to be an excellent philosopher without sacrificing the other important things in life. When I got to Notre Dame, I was fortunate to be surrounded once again by peo- v ple who were interested in developing as philosophers and helping me do the same. As a first-year Ph.D. student who lacked confidence, I spent countless hours talking philosophy with Scott Hagaman, trying out my ideas and practicing being a philoso- pher. Scott was a tireless interlocutor and always excited to point out my mistakes, but just as willing to help fix the problems in my arguments. The members of my cohort, most of whom worked in areas wildly different from my own, broadened my knowledge and interests, and made me a more well-rounded philosopher; they also were crucial to my passing the history comprehensive exams. The two metaphysi- cians in my cohort—Aaron Segal and Jeff Snapper—are a delight to talk metaphysics with, and our discussions and their comments on my seminar papers taught me cre- ativity and how to anticipate objections. When I started this dissertation, Josh Rasmussen was a source of encouragement and ideas; his emails were clear and precise articulations of the Quinean position against which I’m arguing, and I benefitted greatly from reading and re-reading them. During the first two years of my writing, I met weekly with Alex Skiles to talk about our own work and to discuss what we were reading. Alex is one of the most careful philosophers I’ve ever talked with, and is a model of how to read and interact with metaphysics. He was selfless with his time, always eager to talk about my work, and every chapter of this dissertation has improved for his involvement. When Alex finished the program, the void he left was filled by Tim Pawl and Noël Saenz; we met weekly to read each others’ work, and they helped me tighten my arguments and pointed me to tons of relevant literature. Alex Arnold, Bryan Pilkington, and Jeff Tolly are excellent philosophers with whom I share many other interests. Spending time with them watching football, playing tennis, and interspersing philosophical conversation provided needed (and enjoyable) breaks from writing. There are a number of people who read (and often reread) chapters of this dis- sertation and discussed them with me; their comments and suggestions helped me vi correct errors and anticipate many objections. Thanks to Kenny Boyce, Scott Brown, Ben Caplan, Jonathan Jacobs, Dan Korman, Kathrin Koslicki, Andrew Melnyk, Tim Pawl, Kate Ritchie, Noël Saenz, Ted Sider, Jeff Snapper, Jeff Speaks, Jason Turner, and Jessica Wilson. I hope that they can see their involvement in this dissertation, because I certainly can. Portions of this dissertation were given at the Baylor Philosophy of Religion Conference, Central States Philosophical Association, University of Texas at Austin Graduate Student Conference, Biola University Graduate Student Conference, Pacific APA, Pacific APA, and University of Geneva Workshop in Metaphysics and Mathematics. Thanks to those in the
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