Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics, and Mind Group Talk (Louis DeRosset, University of Vermont)

One of five departmental research interest groups, the Language, Epistemology, Metaphysics and Mind Group undertakes research in philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science, traditional and formal epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of language.

The group welcomes Louis DeRosset, Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Vermont. Prof. DeRosset’s research is focused on metaphysics and the philosophy of language, with a particular interest in the metaphysics of modality, and the utility and limits of explanation and reduction in metaphysics.

Talk Title

“Skepticism about Grounding”

Talk Abstract

Grounding, as I understand it, is a kind of dependence and determination among facts, circumstances, conditions, states of affairs, etc. It is typically expressed by the idioms `in virtue of’ and `makes F’. Global skepticism about grounding is the view that any attempt to develop and apply a theory of grounding is generally and in principle defective. In this paper I delineate three kinds of global skepticism and argue that there is no good reason to embrace global skepticism of any of these kinds, at least in advance of an attempt to develop and apply a theory of grounding. We have no reason at present to shy away from the development of such a theory.