Forthcoming Research Seminars and Lectures

24th May 2012: Mark Fiocco (California) - Fundamentality, Unity and Simple Facts

(31 January 2012)

Weekly Research Seminar

This seminar will be held in the Birley Room, Hatfield College, Durham.  Refreshments will be served from 11am with the talk commencing  at 11.30am

Title: Fundamentality, Unity and Simple Facts

Abstract:

In metaphysics, there are at least two questions that might be regarded as the primary question of fundamentality.  One of the questions, the *vertical* one, asks: *is there a fundamental ontological level*?  The other, the *horizontal* question, asks: *is there basic ontological

structure*?  This question is motivated by the recognition that *distinct* and *independent* entities stand in relations to each other thereby yielding complex *units*, and is best construed as asking whether there really is such structure (and, if so, how).  The horizontal question is prior to the vertical one, and leads to the basic problem of any metaphysics that recognizes distinct and, hence, relatable categories or entities.   Call this the *problem of unity*.  I think the problem and, hence, the horizontal question not only *should* have an answer but *must*.  This is because the problem is inseparable from the issue of whether there are grounds, that is, truthmakers, for all true

propositions.  I maintain that the most satisfactory solution to the problem of unity (and best account of truthmaking) is in terms of simple facts.  Simple facts are not familiar entities; I discuss (and defend) them in much detail elsewhere.  They are quintessentially *ontological
grounds* and, as such, perform certain indispensable metaphysical roles:  they make true propositions true and they also make possible basic ontological structure.  In this way, they resolve the problem of unity and thereby provide an answer to the primary question of fundamentality, the horizontal one.