Easy Ontology, Regress, and Holism

Miller, J.T.M.

Abstract

In this paper, I distinguish between two possible versions of Amie Thomasson’s easy ontology project that differ in virtue of positing atomic or holistic application conditions, and evaluate the strengths of a holistic version over a non-holistic version. In particular, I argue that neither of the recently identified regress or circularity problems are troublesome for the supporter of easy ontology if they adopt a holistic account of application conditions. This is not intended to be a defence of easy ontology from all possible objections, but rather to compare holistic and non-holistic versions of the view. This discussion is also significant in that it serves to highlight two distinct forms of easy ontology, which, I argue, need to be distinguished when assessing the merits of the easy approach in future work.

Citation

Miller, J. (2023). Easy Ontology, Regress, and Holism. Erkenntnis, 88, 1855–1868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-021-00432-7

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jun 10, 2021
• Publication Date: 2023-06
• Deposit Date: Jun 9, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 11, 2021
• Journal: Erkenntnis
• Print ISSN: 0165-0106
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-8420
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 88
• Pages: 1855–1868
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-021-00432-7
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1247179