Quizzical Ontology and Easy Ontology

Journal of Philosophy 111 (9-10):502-528 (2014)
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Abstract

This paper examines what’s at stake in which form of metaontological deflationism we adopt. Stephen Yablo has argued for a ‘quizzicalist’ approach, holding that many ontological questions are ‘moot’ in the sense that there is simply nothing to settle them. Defenders of the ‘easy approach’ to ontology, by contrast, think not that these questions are unsettled, but that they are very easily settled by trivial inferences from uncontroversial premises—so obviously and easily settled that there is no point debating them. The views may differ in terms of how far the deflation extends—while easy ontology deflates debates about ordinary objects, Yablo doesn’t think his view does. But the crucial underlying difference lies in whether we think there are ontological presuppositions for introducing terminology

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Amie Thomasson
Dartmouth College

Citations of this work

Metaphysics and Conceptual Negotiation.Amie L. Thomasson - 2017 - Philosophical Issues 27 (1):364-382.
What Can we Take Away from Easy Arguments?Amie L. Thomasson - 2017 - Australasian Philosophical Review 1 (2):153-162.
Replies to Comments on Ontology Made Easy.Amie L. Thomasson - 2019 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 99 (1):251-264.
Epistemic Closure, Home Truths, and Easy Philosophy.Walter Horn - 2018 - Journal of Philosophy 115 (1):34-51.

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