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- Publisher Website: 10.1007/s11098-017-0898-1
- Scopus: eid_2-s2.0-85016407389
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Article: We Don't Need No Explanation
Title | We Don't Need No Explanation |
---|---|
Authors | |
Keywords | Explanation Ontology Truthmaking |
Issue Date | 2018 |
Publisher | Springer Verlag Dordrecht. The Journal's web site is located at http://springerlink.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=journal&issn=0031-8116 |
Citation | Philosophical Studies, 2018, v. 175 n. 4, p. 903-921 How to Cite? |
Abstract | Explanation has played myriad roles in truthmaker theory. The notion of explanation is sometimes thought to give content to the very idea of truthmaking, and is sometimes used as a weapon to undermine the entire point of truthmaker theory. I argue that the notion of explanation is dialectically useless in truthmaker theory: while it’s true that truthmaking offers a form of explanation, this claim is theoretically unilluminating, and leaves truthmaker theorists vulnerable to various kinds of attack. I advocate an alternative approach to truthmaker theory that downplays the role of explanation, and show how it releases the enterprise from a variety of problematic commitments that have troubled truthmaker theorists. The “ontology-first” approach to truthmaking that I advocate not only restores the initial impulse behind truthmaking, but also has a number of theoretical advantages. Most prominently, it dodges the infamous problem of negative existentials, and lessens truthmaker theory’s dependence on contentious intuitive judgments about both explanation and truthmaking. |
Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/243623 |
ISSN | 2023 Impact Factor: 1.1 2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 1.203 |
ISI Accession Number ID |
DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.author | Asay, JF | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2017-08-25T02:57:25Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2017-08-25T02:57:25Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2018 | - |
dc.identifier.citation | Philosophical Studies, 2018, v. 175 n. 4, p. 903-921 | - |
dc.identifier.issn | 0031-8116 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/243623 | - |
dc.description.abstract | Explanation has played myriad roles in truthmaker theory. The notion of explanation is sometimes thought to give content to the very idea of truthmaking, and is sometimes used as a weapon to undermine the entire point of truthmaker theory. I argue that the notion of explanation is dialectically useless in truthmaker theory: while it’s true that truthmaking offers a form of explanation, this claim is theoretically unilluminating, and leaves truthmaker theorists vulnerable to various kinds of attack. I advocate an alternative approach to truthmaker theory that downplays the role of explanation, and show how it releases the enterprise from a variety of problematic commitments that have troubled truthmaker theorists. The “ontology-first” approach to truthmaking that I advocate not only restores the initial impulse behind truthmaking, but also has a number of theoretical advantages. Most prominently, it dodges the infamous problem of negative existentials, and lessens truthmaker theory’s dependence on contentious intuitive judgments about both explanation and truthmaking. | - |
dc.language | eng | - |
dc.publisher | Springer Verlag Dordrecht. The Journal's web site is located at http://springerlink.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=journal&issn=0031-8116 | - |
dc.relation.ispartof | Philosophical Studies | - |
dc.rights | The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11098-017-0898-1 | - |
dc.subject | Explanation | - |
dc.subject | Ontology | - |
dc.subject | Truthmaking | - |
dc.title | We Don't Need No Explanation | - |
dc.type | Article | - |
dc.identifier.email | Asay, JF: asay@hku.hk | - |
dc.identifier.authority | Asay, JF=rp01955 | - |
dc.description.nature | postprint | - |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1007/s11098-017-0898-1 | - |
dc.identifier.scopus | eid_2-s2.0-85016407389 | - |
dc.identifier.hkuros | 275452 | - |
dc.identifier.volume | 175 | - |
dc.identifier.issue | 4 | - |
dc.identifier.spage | 903 | - |
dc.identifier.epage | 921 | - |
dc.identifier.isi | WOS:000427296500004 | - |
dc.publisher.place | Netherlands | - |
dc.identifier.issnl | 0031-8116 | - |