The Routledge Handbook of Metametaphysic

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors
Introduction What is metametaphysics?
	The structure of this volume
	Part I: The history of metametaphysics
	Part II: Neo-Quineanism (and its objectors)
	Part III: Alternative conceptions of metaphysics
	Part IV: The epistemology of metaphysics
	Part V: Science and metaphysics
	Editors’ acknowledgements
Part I
	The history of metametaphysics
		1 Metametaphysics in Plato and Aristotle
			Introduction
			Plato takes some time out to reflect on the meaning of the expression “to be”
			Aristotle takes some time out to consider whether the multivocity of the expression “to be” is compatible with an enquiry into being
			Notes
			References
		2 Kantian meta-ontology
			1 Meta-ontology
			2 The nature of existence
			3 The problem of modal representation
			4 Cognising the real modalities
			5 Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		3 Rudolf Carnap: pragmatist and expressivist about ontology
			The data
			The theory
			Problems and complexities
			Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		4 Quine’s metametaphysics
			1 The view from a distance
			2 ‘On what there is’
			3 ‘Two dogmas of empiricism’
			4 Word & Object
			5 ‘Ontological relativity’
			Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		5 Metaphysical realism and anti-realism
			What is metaphysical realism?
			Relationship to semantics and epistemology
			Arguments against metaphysical realism
			Metaphysical anti-realism
			Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		6 From modal to post-modal metaphysics
			The modal revolution
			Problems with modal metaphysics
			Onwards to the post-modal future
			Conclusion
			Notes
			References
Part II
	Neo-Quineanism (and its objectors)
		7 Ontological commitment and quantifiers
			1 Quine and his successors
			2 Carnap and his successors
			3 Meinong and his successors
			4 Closing remarks
			Notes
			References
		8 Quantifier variance
			1 The claim
			2 Arguments for quantifier variance
			3 Challenges for quantifier pluralism
			4 Challenges for quantifier egalitarianism
			5 Quantifier variance and common-sense ontology
			6 Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		9 Verbal disputes and metaphysics
			1 Introduction
			2 Verbal disputes
			3 Accounts of mere verbalness
			4 The Hirsch/Sider debate
			5 Merely verbal deflationism
			6 Triviality and semantic under-specification
			7 Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		10 Absolute generality
			1 The role of absolutism
			2 Anti-absolutism
			3 Recarving Anti-Absolutism
			4 Strong Absolutism
			5 Quantifying over everything
			Notes
			References
		11 The metametaphysics of neo-Fregeanism
			1 Introduction
			2 Background
			3 Platonism and logicism
			4 The neo-Fregean as quietist
			5 Easy existence
			6 Early Wright and Hale
			7 Content recarving and implicit definition
			8 The metaontology of abstraction
			9 Concluding remarks
			Notes
			References
		12 Easy ontology
			1 A brief history of easy arguments
			2 The importance of easy ontology
			3 Objections to easy arguments
			4 Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		13 Defending the importance of ordinary existence questions and debates
			I Ordinary questions about existence
			II Conditions for cogent/serious ontological questioning and debates
			III How Carnap and application-conditions neoCarnapians eliminate ontological debate
			IV Quine’s attempted resurrection of ontological debate
			V Equivocality ontology
			VI Coupling univocality with neutrality
			VII Concluding homily about linguistic science and metametaphysics
			Notes
			References
		14 Ontological pluralism
			Elite quantifiers
			Can pluralism be defined?
			Pluralism and generic quantification
			Notational variance
			Conclusion
			Notes
			References
Part III
	Alternative conceptions of metaphysics
		15 Grounding
			Introduction
			1 Substantive questions
			2 Theoretical economy
			3 Location problems
			4 Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		16 Fundamentality
			The view
			What work the fundamental?
			Open issues
			Notes
			References
		17 Metaphysical explanation
			1 ‘Explanation’
			2 Why believe in metaphysical explanation?
			3 Grounding and metaphysical explanation
			4 Models of metaphysical explanation
			5 Realism and anti-realism
			6 Concluding remarks
			Notes
			References
		18 Truthmaking and metametaphysics
			1 Ontological commitment: Quine versus truthmaking
			2 Truthmaking, easy ontology, and (very) hard ontology
			Notes
			References
		19 Essence
			1 Introducing essence
			2 Modalism about essence
			3 Beyond modalism
			4 Extending essence
			5 Essence and identity
			Notes
			References
		20 Fictionalist strategies in metaphysics
			1 Introduction
			2 The analogy with fiction
			3 Fictionalist paraphrases
			4 Objections to fictionalism
			5 The benefits of fictionalism
			References
		21 Global expressivism
			1 Globalizing expressivism
			2 Global-expressivism I
			3 Global-expressivism II (inferentialism)
			4 Expressivism about meaning
			5 Metasemantics meets metametaphysics
			References
		22 Hylomorphic unity
			How many unities?
			Hylomorphic divisions
			The potentiality of matter
			Matter:form = potentiality:actuality
			The unity of a definition: double hylomorphism
			Aristotle’s two accounts of hylomorphic unity
			My account of the unity of substance
			Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		23 Feminist metametaphysics
			The importance of the social
			Metaphysical concepts and political power
			Notes
			References
		24 Social ontology
			I Eliminativism and reduction
			II Fundamentality and mind-dependence
			III Naturalness
			IV Conclusion
			Notes
			References
			Further reading
		25 Natural language ontology
			1 The role of ontology in the semantics of natural language
			2 How can natural language ontology be situated within metaphysics?
			3 Recognizing natural language ontology as a discipline of its own
			4 What sorts of linguistic data reflect the ontology of natural language and how is the ontology of natural language to be characterized?
			5 Universals of natural language ontology
			6 The syntactic core-periphery distinction
			7 The ontology of natural language and other ontologies
			8 Conclusion
			Acknowledgments
			Notes
			References
		26 Phenomenology as metaphysics
			The metaphysical neutrality of phenomenology
			The metaphysical implications of phenomenology
			Phenomenology and idealism
			Notes
			References
Part IV
	The epistemology of metaphysics
		27 A priori or a posteriori?
			1 The role of the distinction in metametaphysics1
			2 How can we distinguish between a priori and a posteriori knowledge?
			3 Bootstrapping and cyclical processing
			4 Connection to modal epistemology
			5 Connection to science and naturalistic metaphysics
			6 Concluding remarks
			Notes
			References
		28 The epistemology of modality
			1 Background
			2 The epistemic challenge in modality
			3 Uniformity vs non-uniformity
			4 The structure of modal knowledge
			5 Final remarks and further reading
			Notes
			References
		29 Ideology and ontology
			Introduction
			Ideological commitments
			Lewis’ contribution
			Quine’s contribution
			Sider’s contribution
			Open questions about ideology
			Notes
			References
		30 Primitives
			Theories and their primitives – some examples
			“Problem-solvers”
			The functional view
			On explanatory power
			Note
			References
		31 Conceptual analysis in metaphysics
			1 Introduction
			2 What is metaphysics?
			3 What is conceptual analysis?
			4 How much does conceptual analysis matter to metaphysics?
			5 Conceptual analysis and the discovery of properties
			6 The bearing of conceptual claims and analyses on issues in metaphysics: three case studies
			7 The inevitability of conceptual analysis
			8 Conceptual analysis and rewriting sentences
			9 A quick summary
			Notes
			References
		32 Contingentism in metaphysics
			1 Introduction
			2 Entity contingentism
			3 Metaphysical contingentism
			4 Conclusion
			Notes
			References
			Further reading
		33 Is metaphysics special?
			What is the question?
			Metaphysics
			Is metaphysics especially glorious?
			Is metaphysics especially problematic?
			Conclusion
			Notes
			References
Part V
	Science and metaphysics
		34 Science-guided metaphysics
			Introduction
			The norms of ‘science-guided metaphysics’
			The conceptual problem
			The practice problem
			The progress problem
			Conclusion
			Notes
			References
		35 Methods in science and metaphysics
			1 What are science and metaphysics?
			2 What are the methodologies of science and metaphysics?
			3 The relationship between science and metaphysics
			Notes
			References
		36 Thing and non-thing ontologies
			Discrete objects: from Aristotelian metaphysics to ontic structural realism
			Discrete objects: events instead of substances
			Continuous stuff
			Conclusion
			References
		37 Moderately naturalistic metaphysics
			Introduction
			1 Kinds of metaphysics, and the naturalistic option
			2 Radically naturalistic metaphysics
			3 Moderately naturalistic metaphysics
			4 Further remarks
			Conclusions
			Notes
			References
		38 Metaphysics as the ‘science of the possible’
			1 Stating the view
			2 Some further details
			3 Floating free from science?
			4 How distinctive?
			5 Conceptual analysis?
			6 Knowing the possible?
			7 Conclusion
			Notes
			References
Index