When the world does not decide – Accounting for underdetermined ontologies
Description: Giving a systematic account of what there is is often considered to be one of the most central tasks for metaphysicians. This project investigates the metaphysical hypothesis that fundamental reality does not determine what there is. I plan to distinguish three relevantly different ways to metaphysically account for cases of non-determined, or underdetermined, ontologies and to compare them with respect to their theoretical attractiveness when applied to particular cases. These three kinds of accounts are (i) accepting arbitrariness, (ii) providing an account of metaphysical indeterminacy, or (iii) accepting abundance and maintaining that every candidate ontology obtains. Although these three options for modelling ontological underdetermination have been discussed (or at least alluded to) in the literature, a thorough discussion of their differences and of the metaphysical assumptions that give us reasons to favour one over the other is still lacking. I expect this project to lend metaphysical respectability to underdetermined ontologies.
Amount: CHF 86,500
Funding type: fellowship
Funder scheme: Postdoc.Mobility
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2025-02-28
Investigator: Werner, Jonas
Institution: Institution abroad
Funded outputs count: 2
Funder award ID: 214177
OpenAlex ID: G1226762163