General discussion of grounding, including its formal features, relations to other notions, and applications.

Argument that full grounds modally entail what they ground.

Discussion of the relevance of grounding to substantiveness, theory-choice, and “location problems” in metaphysics.

Characterization of a form of explanation involving grounding on the model of mechanistic causal explanation.

Discussion of partial grounds that aren't parts of full grounds; definition of full grounding in terms of partial grounding.

Discussion of the challenge that acquaintance with the nature of experience poses to physicalism.

Discussion of a metaphysical sense of 'inheritance' and cognate notions relevant to fundamentality.

Defense of an account of intrinsic properties in terms of (what is now called) grounding rather than naturalness.

Amendment of the Witmer, Butchard, and Trogdon (2005) account of intrinsic properties with the aim of neutrality between competing theories of what is fundamental.

Argument that priority monism is best understood as being a contingent thesis.

Grounding and explanation are said to be intimately connected. Some even maintain that grounding just is a form of explanation. But grounding and explanation also seem importantly different—on the face of it, the former is ‘worldy’ or ‘objective’ while the latter isn’t. In this paper, we develop and respond to an argument to the effect that there is no way to fruitfully address this tension that retains orthodox views about grounding and explanation but doesn’t undermine a central piece of methodology, (...) namely that explanation is a guide to ground. (shrink)

Discussion of atomistic and monistic theses about abstract reality.

Defense of a psychological account of what it is for an artwork to be complete.

Argument that Lewis and others are wrong that physicalism is if true then contingently true.

Response to Skiles (2009) on Trogdon (2009) on intrinsic properties and fundamentality.

Response to Gover (2015) on Trogdon and Livingston (2015) on artwork completion.

Discussion of grounding-theoretic accounts of truthmaking in terms of the theoretical role of “catching cheaters”.

Discussion of reductive and non-reductive physicalism formulated in a priority monist framework.

Grounding-theoretic reformulation of Fodor's theory of content that addresses recalcitrant Quinean concerns.