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Speaker: Dr. Fatema Amijee, Simon Fraser University

Title: Relativized Fundamentality

Friday, November 16th at 2:30pm CLE A303

Abstract:

Call absolutism about fundamentality (henceforth ‘absolutism’) the view takes our basic conception of fundamentality to be one that treats it as a property that entities have absolutely rather than relative to a metaphysical mode of explanation. Absolutism about fundamentality is a commitment shared by most extant views of fundamentality. My primary goal in this paper is to argue against absolutism about fundamentality and defend an alternative: relativism about fundamentality (henceforth ‘relativism’). Relativism takes our basic conception of fundamentality to be one that treats it as a property that entities have relative to a particular way of explaining that entity. I show that absolutism about fundamentality runs into puzzles that relativism about fundamentality can solve. Finally, I show that relativism about fundamentality allows a proponent of the Principle of Sufficient Reason to be committed to fundamental facts.