Maria Scarpati | University of Oxford (original) (raw)

Complete Issues by Maria Scarpati

Papers by Maria Scarpati

Erkenntnis, 2021

Is everything about reality either qualitative or somehow determined by the qualitative character... more Is everything about reality either qualitative or somehow determined by the qualitative character of reality itself? Metaphysical anti-Haecceitism is often taken to be the claim that this is the case, and to entail that reality is fundamentally qualitative. In this paper, I (1) argue against the idea that metaphysical anti-Haecceitism should be characterized in such terms, and (2) defend a novel way to phrase such a view. This will be done by taking the main arguments for anti-Haecceitism as a guide and by singling out the proper commitments of a view that satisfies the desideratum set forth by such arguments. The phrasing I shall offer will help tell the issue of anti-Haecceitism apart from some concerns about fundamentality that, I will contend, are orthogonal to it—among them, the question whether there is fundamentality at all.

We seem to have an intuitive grasp on the idea that somemetaphysical items – be they properties, ... more We seem to have an intuitive grasp on the idea that somemetaphysical items – be they properties, states of affairs or truths and parts of reality however conceived – involve the identity of some entities in particular. As opposed to these, it seems, there are features of themetaphysical realm thatmight as well be characterized merely in terms of their qualitative profile. They may concern some entities, but they do so only insofar as those entities fulfil a given qualitative description; were there to be perfect duplicates of an entity, items of the latter kind would concern (if at all) any one of that entity’s duplicates. Call the first class of items, collectively, "the non-qualitative"; call the latter, collectively, "the qualitative". A number of worries and quarrels have focused on this distinction and, in particular, on the status of the non-qualitative. Some of the relevant worries are genuinely, and possibly solely, modal: they typically constitute part o...

Bergamo’s conference on the metaphysics of properties and relations was one of the most attractiv... more Bergamo’s conference on the metaphysics of properties and relations was one of the most attractive conferences that recently took place in Italy. When we first looked at the program some nine months ago, few things if anything could have contained our enthusiasm: Not only did it confirm that properties and relations keep exerting large interest at all levels of the discipline, but it brought together some among the most reputed scholars and promised to bring about novel issues as well as thought-provoking proposals. We immediately set up a team of RIFAJ-editors whose competences could have most nearly approximate the covered topics. Ilaria Canavotto considered Kevin Mulligan’s defence of the thesis that connectives are more fundamental than predicates and his attempt to make a weak and a strong form of realism about the semantic value of connectives (which he calls ‘connectors’) compatible. She also outlined Fabrice Correia’s proposal of exploiting the notion of generic identity in ...

Conclusions 261 Appendix 267 Bibliography 273 I could write a whole book filled with names, and s... more Conclusions 261 Appendix 267 Bibliography 273 I could write a whole book filled with names, and still that may not include every single person I should thank. Riccardo

Erkenntnis, 2021

Is everything about reality either qualitative or somehow determined by the qualitative character... more Is everything about reality either qualitative or somehow determined by the qualitative character of reality itself? Metaphysical anti-Haecceitism is often taken to be the claim that this is the case, and to entail that reality is fundamentally qualitative. In this paper, I (1) argue against the idea that metaphysical anti-Haecceitism should be characterized in such terms, and (2) defend a novel way to phrase such a view. This will be done by taking the main arguments for anti-Haecceitism as a guide and by singling out the proper commitments of a view that satisfies the desideratum set forth by such arguments. The phrasing I shall offer will help tell the issue of anti-Haecceitism apart from some concerns about fundamentality that, I will contend, are orthogonal to it—among them, the question whether there is fundamentality at all.

We seem to have an intuitive grasp on the idea that somemetaphysical items – be they properties, ... more We seem to have an intuitive grasp on the idea that somemetaphysical items – be they properties, states of affairs or truths and parts of reality however conceived – involve the identity of some entities in particular. As opposed to these, it seems, there are features of themetaphysical realm thatmight as well be characterized merely in terms of their qualitative profile. They may concern some entities, but they do so only insofar as those entities fulfil a given qualitative description; were there to be perfect duplicates of an entity, items of the latter kind would concern (if at all) any one of that entity’s duplicates. Call the first class of items, collectively, "the non-qualitative"; call the latter, collectively, "the qualitative". A number of worries and quarrels have focused on this distinction and, in particular, on the status of the non-qualitative. Some of the relevant worries are genuinely, and possibly solely, modal: they typically constitute part o...

Bergamo’s conference on the metaphysics of properties and relations was one of the most attractiv... more Bergamo’s conference on the metaphysics of properties and relations was one of the most attractive conferences that recently took place in Italy. When we first looked at the program some nine months ago, few things if anything could have contained our enthusiasm: Not only did it confirm that properties and relations keep exerting large interest at all levels of the discipline, but it brought together some among the most reputed scholars and promised to bring about novel issues as well as thought-provoking proposals. We immediately set up a team of RIFAJ-editors whose competences could have most nearly approximate the covered topics. Ilaria Canavotto considered Kevin Mulligan’s defence of the thesis that connectives are more fundamental than predicates and his attempt to make a weak and a strong form of realism about the semantic value of connectives (which he calls ‘connectors’) compatible. She also outlined Fabrice Correia’s proposal of exploiting the notion of generic identity in ...

Conclusions 261 Appendix 267 Bibliography 273 I could write a whole book filled with names, and s... more Conclusions 261 Appendix 267 Bibliography 273 I could write a whole book filled with names, and still that may not include every single person I should thank. Riccardo