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No Grounds for Fictionalism

Rob Fraser Orcid Logo

Philosophical Studies, Volume: 179, Issue: 12, Pages: 3679 - 3687

Swansea University Author: Rob Fraser Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/s11098-022-01855-w

Abstract

I argue that fictionalism about grounding is unmotivated, focusing on Naomi Thompson’s (2022) recent proposal on which the utility of the grounding fiction lies in its facilitating communication about what metaphysically explains what. I show that, despite its apparent dialectical kinship with other...

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Published in: Philosophical Studies
ISSN: 0031-8116 1573-0883
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2022
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68391
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spelling 2025-02-13T13:21:16.6430141 v2 68391 2024-11-29 No Grounds for Fictionalism b672bd356b55dba1f5d104300a083215 0000-0002-1475-1863 Rob Fraser Rob Fraser true false 2024-11-29 SOSS I argue that fictionalism about grounding is unmotivated, focusing on Naomi Thompson’s (2022) recent proposal on which the utility of the grounding fiction lies in its facilitating communication about what metaphysically explains what. I show that, despite its apparent dialectical kinship with other metaphysical debates in which fictionalism has a healthy tradition, the grounding debate is different in two key respects. Firstly, grounding talk is not indispensable, nor even particularly convenient as a means of communicating about metaphysical explanation. This undermines the revolutionary proposal. Secondly, talk of grounding primarily occurs within metaphysics, which means the usual options for motivating a non-literal interpretation are ineffective. This undermines the hermeneutic proposal. Journal Article Philosophical Studies 179 12 3679 3687 Springer Science and Business Media LLC 0031-8116 1573-0883 1 12 2022 2022-12-01 10.1007/s11098-022-01855-w COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee 2025-02-13T13:21:16.6430141 2024-11-29T11:42:26.5469389 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations Rob Fraser 0000-0002-1475-1863 1 68391__33300__1230e8e9944742998d162965ca6ba97b.pdf 68391.VoR.pdf 2025-01-13T13:50:25.2630362 Output 553347 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title No Grounds for Fictionalism
spellingShingle No Grounds for Fictionalism
Rob Fraser
title_short No Grounds for Fictionalism
title_full No Grounds for Fictionalism
title_fullStr No Grounds for Fictionalism
title_full_unstemmed No Grounds for Fictionalism
title_sort No Grounds for Fictionalism
author_id_str_mv b672bd356b55dba1f5d104300a083215
author_id_fullname_str_mv b672bd356b55dba1f5d104300a083215_***_Rob Fraser
author Rob Fraser
author2 Rob Fraser
format Journal article
container_title Philosophical Studies
container_volume 179
container_issue 12
container_start_page 3679
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
issn 0031-8116
1573-0883
doi_str_mv 10.1007/s11098-022-01855-w
publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations
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description I argue that fictionalism about grounding is unmotivated, focusing on Naomi Thompson’s (2022) recent proposal on which the utility of the grounding fiction lies in its facilitating communication about what metaphysically explains what. I show that, despite its apparent dialectical kinship with other metaphysical debates in which fictionalism has a healthy tradition, the grounding debate is different in two key respects. Firstly, grounding talk is not indispensable, nor even particularly convenient as a means of communicating about metaphysical explanation. This undermines the revolutionary proposal. Secondly, talk of grounding primarily occurs within metaphysics, which means the usual options for motivating a non-literal interpretation are ineffective. This undermines the hermeneutic proposal.
published_date 2022-12-01T06:44:11Z
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