Jonathan Schaffer (UMass, Amherst)
“On What Grounds What”
What is metaphysics? According to the now dominant Quinean view, metaphysics lists the beings. I will argue for a revival of the more traditional Aristotelian view, on which metaphysics limns the structure of being, which is a hierarchy grounded in the substances. Metaphysics is not about what there is. It is about what grounds what.