•  31
    Ontologiset Kategoriateoriat
    Ensyklopedia Logos. forthcoming.
    Ontologiset kategoriateoriat pyrkivät vastaamaan metafysiikan klassiseen ongelmaan: kysymykseen siitä, mihin eri kategorioihin oliot eli entiteetit jakaantuvat. Olioilla tarkoitetaan tässä mitä tahansa, joka on olemassa. Olevan kategoriat eli ontologiset kategoriat (lyhyesti kategoriat) ovat alustavasti olioiden hyvin yleisiä lajeja. Jäsenyys olioiden kategoriassa ei niinkään kerro sitä, mitä piirteitä oliolla on, vaan sen olemisen tavan ¬– miten se esimerkiksi on tai voi olla maailman rakenneos…Read more
  • Trope Bundle Theories of Substance
    In A. R. J. Fisher & Anna-Sofia Maurin (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Properties, Routledge. pp. 239-249. 2023.
    In this chapter, we provide an opinionated introduction to contemporary trope bundle theories of substance. We assess different trope bundle theories on the grounds of their two main aims: to provide an adequate account of substances or objects by means of tropes and a reductive analysis of inherence, that is, object's having tropes as their properties. Our discussion begins by a presentation of Donald C. Williams’ and Keith Campbell's paradigmatic trope theories, which maintain that tropes are …Read more
  •  562
    Kinds of Tropes without Kinds
    Dialectica 72 (4): 571-596. 2018.
    In this article, we propose a new trope nominalist conception of determinate and determinable kinds of quantitative tropes. The conception is developed as follows. First, we formulate a new account of tropes falling under the same determinates and determinables in terms of internal relations of proportion and order. Our account is a considerable improvement on the current standard account (Campbell 1990; Maurin 2002; Simons 2003) because it does not rely on primitive internal relations of exact …Read more
  •  100
    Learning from the Past to the Future in Metaphysics
    In Jani Sinokki & Eero Kaila (eds.), Acta Philosophica Fennica XCVIII, Finnish Philosophical Society. pp. 125-141. 2023.
    I propose that metaphysical study is initially indifferent to the truth of Metaphysical Realism about Metaphysics (MRM) and Metaphysical Realism and does not presuppose them. Metaphysical Realism is a metaphysical doctrine the truth of which cannot be settled logically prior to metaphysical investigation. MRM presupposes Metaphysical Realism and therefore, one should not hold MRM uncritically. An epistemological consequence of this is that arguments against the possibility of cognition about met…Read more
  •  170
    Formal Ontology
    Cambridge University Press. 2023.
    Formal ontology as a main branch of metaphysics investigates categories of being. In the formal ontological approach to metaphysics, these ontological categories are analysed by ontological forms. This analysis, which we illustrate by some category systems, provides a tool to assess the clarity, exactness and intelligibility of different category systems or formal ontologies. We discuss critically different accounts of ontological form in the literature. Of ontological form, we propose a charact…Read more
  •  16
    Hume on Time and Steadfast Unchanging Objects
    with Todd Ryan
    History of Philosophy Quarterly 40 (1): 3-24. 2023.
    In this paper we consider a puzzle concerning Hume's account of time and what he calls “steadfast unchanging objects”—that is, unchanging objects coexisting with temporal successions. On the one hand, Hume maintains that steadfast unchanging objects are temporally indivisible. On the other, he allows that such unchanging objects are capable of undergoing a determinate number of alterations in a given length of time, which seems to imply that they are at least potentially temporally divisible. Af…Read more
  •  378
    Kirjoituksessa argumentoin, että metafysiikka on ollut valistusta, vaikka se edelleen kaipaa lisää valistumista, kun valistus ymmärretään avoimena prosessina, joka ei ole ajasta ja paikasta riippuvaista. Käsittelen ensin sitä, mitä metafysiikka ja valistus ovat. Sitten lausun länsimaisen metafysiikan historiasta hyvin lyhyesti. Päätän esseen argumentoimalla, että metafysiikka on valistunutta siinä mielessä, että klassisen substanssi-ominaisuus-skeeman sokeasta seuraamisesta on pitkälti päästy er…Read more
  •  390
    F. H. Bradley’s relation regress poses a difficult problem for metaphysics of relations. In this paper, we reconstruct this regress argument systematically and make its presuppositions explicit in order to see where the possibility of its solution or resolution lies. We show that it cannot be answered by claiming that it is not vicious. Neither is one of the most promising resolutions, the relata-specific answer adequate in its present form. It attempts to explain adherence (relating), which is …Read more
  •  1
    In this paper, I propose a solution to an almost ignored problem in metaphysics and metametaphysics: what is categorial fundamentality and non-fundamentality? My proposal builds on E. J. Lowe’s view on the issue. By means of the newcomer notion of generic identity, I can give an account of something that Lowe did not explicate: the constitution of formal ontolog- ical relations. Formal ontological relations (e.g. instantiation) are internal relations that deter- mine ontological form and categor…Read more
  •  23
    Away with Dispositional Essences in Trope Theory
    with Markku Keinänen
    In Ludger Jansen & Petter Sandstad (eds.), Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Formal Causation, Routledge. pp. 106-123. 2021.
    A specific variety of formal causation is dispositional essentialism. This chapter argues that dispositional essentialism is incompatible with any trope bundle theory committed to the primitive identity of tropes, such as Keith Campbell’s account and the authors’ own Strong Nuclear Theory. Dispositional essentialism would render at least some tropes identity-dependent on other tropes, while all tropes must be considered identity-independent existents in these trope theories. Furthermore, disposi…Read more
  •  256
    The handout of my talk at the Nordic Network in Metaphysics webinar on Friday 2/10/2020
  •  368
    What are Tropes, Fundamentally? A Formal Ontological Account
    Acta Philosophica Fennica 94 129-159. 2018.
    In this paper, I elaborate on the Strong Nuclear Theory (SNT) of tropes and substances, which I have defended elsewhere, using my metatheory about formal ontology and especially fundamental ontological form. According to my metatheory, for an entity to have an ontological form is for it to be a relatum of a formal ontological relation or relations jointly in an order. The full fundamental ontological form is generically identical to a simple formal ontological relation or relations jointly in an…Read more
  • David Hume: Esseitä (edited book)
    with Juha Koivisto and Lauri Mehtonen
    Vastapaino. 2006.
  •  127
    Hume on the Unity of Determinations of Extension
    History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 22 (1). 2019.
    We do not fully understand Hume’s account of space if we do not understand his view of determinations of extension, which is too much ignored a topic. In this paper, I argue for an interpretation that determinations of extension are unities in Hume’s view: single beings in addition to their components. This realist reading is reasonable on both textual and philosophical grounds. There is strong textual evidence for it and no textual reason to reject it. Realism makes perfect sense of the metaphy…Read more
  •  362
    Taxonomy of Relations: Internal and External
    In Daniele Bertini & Damiano Migliorini (eds.), Relations. Ontology and Philosophy of Religion, Mimesis International. pp. 93-121. 2018.
    In this paper, we discern different types of possible relations. We focus on the distinction between internal and external relations and their various possible sub-types. In the first section, we present what is nowadays more or less the standard distinction between internal and external relations. In the second section, we make two contributions to the literature of internal relations: a new taxonomy of internal relations and a novel distinction between formal and material ontological relation…Read more
  •  928
    Quantity Tropes and Internal Relations
    with Markku Keinänen and Antti Keskinen
    Erkenntnis 84 (3): 519-534. 2019.
    In this article, we present a new conception of internal relations between quantity tropes falling under determinates and determinables. We begin by providing a novel characterization of the necessary relations between these tropes as basic internal relations. The core ideas here are that the existence of the relata is sufficient for their being internally related, and that their being related does not require the existence of any specific entities distinct from the relata. We argue that quantit…Read more
  •  485
    In Lowe’s Four-Category Ontology, instantiation is a basic formal ontological relation between particulars (objects, modes) and their kinds (kinds, attributes). Therefore, instantiation must be considered as a metaphysically necessary relation, which also rules out the metaphysical possibility of kind change. Nevertheless, according to Lowe, objects obtain their identity conditions in a more general level than specific natural kinds, which allows for kind change. There also seems to be actual ex…Read more
  • Skottilainen valistus - David Hume
    In Petri Koikkalainen and Paul-Erik Korvela (ed.), Klassiset poliittiset ajattelijat, Vastapaino. pp. 299-339. 2012.
    The title in English: Scottish Enlightenment - David Hume. This is a chapter on Hume's political philosophy that I wrote to a Finnish textbook of the history of political thought.
  •  1
    Scepticism as epochê
    In Luoma Kaisa, Oesch Erna & Vilkko Risto (eds.), Philosophical Studies in honorem Leila Haaparanta, Tampereen Yliopistopaino. pp. 233-242. 2004.
  •  1392
    Voittiko Messi vai Voittiko Barcelona? Jalkapallojoukkueiden olemisen tavasta
    In Jussi Antti Saarinen & Mikael Vilhelm Melan (eds.), Sokrateen syöksypusku –jalkapallon filosofiaa, Docendo. pp. 54-69. 2014.
    Title in English: Did Messi win or did Barcelona? On the way of being of soccer teams.
  • David Humen Of Essay Writing
    In Lauri Mehtonen & Kari Väyrynen (eds.), Järjen todellisuus Juhlakirja Markku Mäelle, Oulun Yliopistopaino. pp. 69-83. 2002.
  • Toimittajien esipuhe
    with Juha Koivisto and Lauri Mehtonen
    In Jani Hakkarainen, Juha Koivisto & Lauri Mehtonen (eds.), David Hume: Esseitä, Vastapaino. pp. 7-9. 2006.
  •  158
    Humen teoria avaruuden ymmärtämisestä
    In Valtteri Viljanen, Helena Siipi & Matti Sintonen (eds.), Ymmärrys, Uniprint. pp. 67-75. 2012.
    Title in English: Hume's Theory of Understanding Space
  •  166
    Kontekstualistinen vastaus Agrippan argumentille
    In Pietarinen Ahti, Pihlström Sami & Toppinen Pilvi (eds.), Usko, Juvenes Print. pp. 93-98. 2009.
    Title in English: : A Contextualist Answer to Agrippa's Argument
  •  610
    According to standard trope nominalism, there are simple tropes that do not have parts or multiply distinct aspects. Douglas Ehring’s reductio ad absurdum against this standard view concludes that there are no simple tropes. In this paper, we provide a response to Ehring defending the standard view. Ehring’s argument may be refuted by (1) distinguishing the ontological form of tropes from their contribution to the ontological content of the world, and (2) construing tropes as having primitive id…Read more
  •  45
    In this paper, I argue that Hume has an insight into the heart of most of “new philosophy” when he claims that according to it, proper sensibles are not Real properties of material substance and Real bodies. I call this tenet “the Proper Sensibles Principle” (PSP). In the second part of the paper, I defend the interpretation - mainly against Don Garrett’s doubts - that the PSP is a rational tenet in Hume’s view and he thus endorses it. Its rationality means that the PSP has a firm foundation in …Read more
  •  592
    Persistence of Simple Substances
    Metaphysica 11 (2): 119-135. 2010.
    In this paper, we argue for a novel three-dimensionalist solution to the problem of persistence, i.e. cross-temporal identity. We restrict the discussion of persistence to simple substances, which do not have other substances as their parts. The account of simple substances employed in the paper is a trope-nominalist strong nuclear theory, which develops Peter Simons' trope nominalism. Regarding the distinction between three dimensionalism and four dimensionalism, we follow Michael Della Rocca's…Read more
  •  367
    Metametafysiikkaa kategorioilla ja ilman
    Ajatus 73 225-253. 2016.
    Title in English translation: Metametaphysics - with and without Categories. A comment paper on An Introduction to Metametaphysics by Tuomas Tahko. Ehdotan artikkelissa uutta olevan ja sen muodon välistä erottelua. Erottelun avulla voidaan antaa täsmällinen käsitys ontologisen kategorian käsitteestä ja metafysiikan tutkimuskohteesta. Argumentoin myös, että metafysiikan epistemologiaa ja semantiikkaa sekä metafyysistä selitttämistä pitää lähestyä kategorianäkökulmasta. Artikkeli on kommentti Tuom…Read more