Reality, fundamentality, grounding (and cognate notions)

Sasa Popovic

doi:10.2298/theo2003105p

Reality, fundamentality, grounding (and cognate notions)

Theoria Beograd ◽

10.2298/theo2003105p ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

pp. 105-124

Author(s):

Sasa Popovic

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Ontological Dependence ◽

Satisfactory Solution ◽

Explanatory Role ◽

Kit Fine ◽

Metaphysical Theory ◽

Pure Logic ◽

Logic Of Ground ◽

Essentially Contested Concept

The notion of grounding is one of the central notions in the debates concerning ontological dependence in contemporary metaphysics and metametaphysics. In this paper we have carried out a comparative analysis of grounding, supervenience, reality, fundamentality, and cognate notions, and we have demonstrated what their role should be in the context of neo-Aristotelian hierarchical ontologies and the project of metaphysical foundationalism. We have also sketched out some basic outlines of what Kit Fine calls ?the pure logic of ground? by establishing certain formal desiderata which grounding ought to meet in order to successfully carry out its specific ontologico- explanatory role. It is finally shown that grounding suffers from similar problems and shortcomings as supervenience, and that a satisfactory solution of those problems cannot be found by looking to metaphysical primitivism according to which grounding is a sui generis, primitive and unanalysable notion which is nonetheless essential for metaphysics. Even though grounding might turn out to be an ?essentially contested concept?, in the end we suggest how the aforementioned problems might be met by means of holistic considerations of grounding within the broader context of the entire (meta)metaphysical theory.

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ON WEAK GROUND

The Review of Symbolic Logic ◽

10.1017/s1755020314000306 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 713-744 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

LOUIS DEROSSET

Keyword(s):

Kit Fine ◽

Formal Treatment ◽

Early Stages ◽

Pure Logic ◽

Logic Of Ground ◽

Translation Scheme

AbstractThough the study of grounding is still in the early stages, Kit Fine, in ”The Pure Logic of Ground”, has made a seminal attempt at formalization. Formalization of this sort is supposed to bring clarity and precision to our theorizing, as it has to the study of other metaphysically important phenomena, like modality and vagueness. Unfortunately, as I will argue, Fine ties the formal treatment of grounding to the obscure notion of a weak ground. The obscurity of weak ground, together with its centrality in Fine’s system, threatens to undermine the extent to which this formalization offers clarity and precision. In this paper, I show how to overcome this problem. I describe a system, the logic of strict ground (LSG) and demonstrate its adequacy; I specify a translation scheme for interpreting Fine’s weak grounding claims; I show that the interpretation verifies all of the principles of Fine’s system; and I show that derivability in Fine’s system can be exactly characterized in terms of derivability in LSG. I conclude that Fine’s system is reducible to LSG.

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Better Semantics for the Pure Logic of Ground

Analytic Philosophy ◽

10.1111/phib.12065 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 229-252 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Louis deRosset

Keyword(s):

Pure Logic ◽

Logic Of Ground

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THE PURE LOGIC OF GROUND

The Review of Symbolic Logic ◽

10.1017/s1755020311000086 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 1-25 ◽

Cited By ~ 89

Author(s):

KIT FINE

Keyword(s):

Structural Rules ◽

Pure Logic ◽

Soundness And Completeness ◽

Logic Of Ground

AbstractI lay down a system of structural rules for various notions of ground and establish soundness and completeness.

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PURE LOGIC OF ITERATED FULL GROUND

The Review of Symbolic Logic ◽

10.1017/s1755020317000211 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 411-435

Author(s):

JON ERLING LITLAND

Keyword(s):

Deductive System ◽

The Core ◽

Inversion Principle ◽

Pure Logic ◽

Logic Of Ground ◽

Propositional Identity ◽

Core Idea

AbstractThis article develops the Pure Logic of Iterated Full Ground (plifg), a logic of ground that can deal with claims of the form “ϕ grounds that (ψ grounds θ)”—what we call iterated grounding claims. The core idea is that some truths Γ ground a truth ϕ when there is an explanatory argument (of a certain sort) from premisses Γ to conclusion ϕ. By developing a deductive system that distinguishes between explanatory and nonexplanatory arguments we can give introduction rules for operators for factive and nonfactive full ground, as well as for a propositional “identity” connective. Elimination rules are then found by using a proof-theoretic inversion principle.

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