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29In defense of explanation-first truthmakingAsian Journal of Philosophy 1 (1): 1-9. 2022.One of the most characteristic cornerstones of Asay’s book, A Theory of Truthmaking, is the defense of what he calls the ontology-first perspective on what the truthmaker project is all about. He distinguishes it from and defends it over what he calls the explanation-first perspective, and he bases his overall theorizing about truthmaking on it. This critical notice aims to counter Asay’s challenges for the explanation-first perspective and reveal its theoretical advantages over its rival. First…Read more
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15The Conceptual Basis and Empirical Grounds of Ontic Structural Realism存在的構造実在論の概念的基礎と経験的根拠存在的構造実在論の概念的基礎と経験的根拠Kagaku Tetsugaku 52 (1): 1-22. 2019.
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21The Connection between Grounding and TruthmakingProceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy 23 71-75. 2018.The purpose of this paper is to clarify the connection between two notions of growing interest in contemporary metaphysics – truthmaking and grounding. The former has provoked a great deal of controversy since the 1980s, whereas the latter has attracted serious attention only since the beginning of this century. Although the two notions are closely connected, only a few attempts have been made so far at clarifying that connection. The present paper is intended as an investigation of the connecti…Read more
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34The Groundedness of Negative TruthsAnnals of the Japan Association for Philosophy of Science 24 1-19. 2016.According to some philosophers, if truthmaker theory is true, then all truths have truthmakers, but there are no truthmakers for negative truths - therefore, the theory is false. In this paper, I defend truthmaker theory by arguing against both claims. I begin by examining and rejecting a recent attempt to argue against. I then present my own argument against by considering the connection between truthmaking and the more general notion of grounding. Finally, I critically examine the proposal by …Read more
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67Is Any Alleged Truthmaker for Negatives Explanatorily Deficient?Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 3 (3): 200-207. 2014.Some truthmaker theorists posit a distinctive kind of entity to solve the problem of providing ontological grounding for negative truths. Recently, A. M. Griffith has raised a general objection against these alleged truthmakers based on an explanatory constraint on truthmaking and the existence condition of these entities. This paper counters the objection by placing it on the horns of a dilemma: the argument must either specify that the existence condition in question is a conceptual matter or …Read more
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25Truthmaker Theory as a Method in OntologyKagaku Tetsugaku 47 (1): 1-17. 2014.This paper aims to precisely characterize the theoretical significance of the notion of truthmakers. First, the closeness of the alleged principle of truthmaker theory and the realistic intuition on which it rests is assessed, thereby determining to what extent a certain kind of general objection against truthmaker theory carries weight. Second, the principle of truthmaker theory is reformulated on the basis of this assessment, and truthmaker theory is argued to offer a methodological role for i…Read more
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146Defending Priority Views from the Gunk/junk ArgumentPhilosophia 44 (1): 155-165. 2016.Recently, Jonathan Tallant has argued that we should reject priority views, which hold that some objects are fundamental and others are dependent. Tallant’s argument relies on two proposed mereological possibilities: a gunky world, where everything has a proper part, and a junky world, where everything is a proper part. In this paper, I criticise Tallant’s argument and argue that neither of these possibilities threaten priority views per se; at most, they threaten only particular forms of priori…Read more
Naoaki Kitamura
Shimane University
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Shimane UniversityJunior Associate Professor
Keio University
PhD, 2015
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |