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Full Idea
I am not resting my ontology on a simple 'argument to the best explanation'. ..What I want to say is that there are general demands on a kind of explanation, in particular, natural explanation, which require that there are persisting things.
Gist of Idea
Best explanations, especially natural ones, need grounding, notably by persistent objects
Source
Sally Haslanger (Persistence, Change and Explanation [1989], 5)
Book Ref
'Persistence: contemporary readings', ed/tr. Haslanger,S/|Kurtz,RM [MIT 2006], p.170
A Reaction
This is a really nice idea - that best explanation is not just about specific cases, but also about best foundations for explanations in general, which brings in our metaphysics. I defend the role of essences in these best explanations.
Related Ideas
Idea 13924 The persistence of objects seems to be needed if the past is to explain the present [Haslanger]
Idea 13925 Ontology disputes rest on more basic explanation disputes [Haslanger]
| 16619 | We observe qualities, and use 'induction' to refer to the substances lying under them [Gassendi] |
| 15308 | Science is the reduction of diverse forces and powers to a smaller number that explain them [Kant] |
| 22646 | We have a passion for knowing the parts of something, rather than the whole [James] |
| 6552 | You can only explain the qualities of large objects using entities which lack those qualities [Heisenberg] |
| 20653 | Six reduction levels: groups, lives, cells, molecules, atoms, particles [Putnam/Oppenheim, by Watson] |
| 17075 | Scientific explanation tends to reduce things to the unfamiliar (not the familiar) [Smart] |
| 15310 | Solidity comes from the power of repulsion, and shape from the power of attraction [Harré/Madden] |
| 12315 | We can explain by showing constitution, as well as showing causes [Stanford] |
| 17088 | Reducing one science to another is often said to be the perfect explanation [Ruben] |
| 2396 | Reductive explanation is not the be-all and the end-all of explanation [Chalmers] |
| 7060 | One form of explanation is by decomposition [Heil] |
| 15059 | Grounding is an explanation of truth, and needs all the virtues of good explanations [Fine,K] |
| 13926 | Best explanations, especially natural ones, need grounding, notably by persistent objects [Haslanger] |
| 11053 | Explanatory reduction is stronger than ontological reduction [Hanna] |