Date of Award
May 2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Joshua Spencer
Second Advisor
William Bristow
Committee Members
Joshua Spencer, William Bristow, William Penn
Keywords
Finitude, Intelligibility, Metaphysics, Ontology, Pluralism
Abstract
The ontological pluralist commits to a generic concept of being by claiming everything exists in one way or another. This generic concept of being includes all entities: entities existing in one way and entities existing in another. In this essay, I develop a generic concept of being using Kris McDaniel’s pluralism as a foundation. I argue that the generic concept of being is intimately linked to thought. I use my generic concept of being to respond to an objection concerning fundamentality and the principle of purity, which results in rejecting the latter. Second, I argue that McDaniel’s pluralism is inconsistent because differentiating the many ways of being relies on us. Thus, I conclude that being only appears to fragment because of us, and pluralism cannot hold for fundamental reality.
Recommended Citation
Enderle, Tavis Mychal, "Intelligibility & the Limits of Ontology: Pluralism, Monism, & Finitude" (2024). Theses and Dissertations. 3469.
https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/3469