Salience and metaphysical explanation

Stimulus Salience as an Explanation for Imperfect Mimicry

UNLABELLED The theory of mimicry explains how a mimic species gains advantage by resembling a model species [1-3]. Selection for increased mimic-model similarity should then result in accurate mimicry, yet there are many surprising examples of poor mimicry in the natural world [4-8]. The existence of imperfect mimics remains a major unsolved conundrum. We propose and experimentally test a novel...

Nonlinearity and metaphysical emergence

Sentimentalism and Metaphysical Beliefs

This essay first introduces the moral sense theories of Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, and Adam Smith, and clarifies important differences between them. It then examines whether moral judgment based on the moral sense or moral sentiments varies according to one’s metaphysical beliefs. For this, the essay mainly applies those theories to such issues as stem cell research, abortion, and active eu...

Metaphysical Realism and Thought

In this paper I identify some unexplored implications of content externalism. The implications can be traced to the role that metaphysical realism plays in some of the standard arguments for content externalism. I do not regard these implications as undermining the case for externalism. I identify them, rather, as part of an attempt at honest accounting: the revisionary nature of content extern...

Metaphysical Minimalism

Properties and facts play a central role within metaphysics, yet there is no widely accepted account of what constitutes a property or a fact. Traditional conceptions of these metaphysical notions raise serious philosophical puzzles, making the existence of each seem dubious. Drawing on the minimalist theory of truth, I argue in favor of a minimalist conception of properties and facts. A minima...