2026/07/25 by Otávio Bueno
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics #Philosophy and Theoretical Science #Philosophy and History of Science
paper · doi:10.1080/0020174x.2026.2709719
Metaphysical questions have faced significant challenges from their lack of empirical support to their meaninglessness. In her program of rethinking metaphysics, Amie Thomasson advances a different sort of challenge, questioning metaphysicians’ extremely narrow understanding of the functions of language, which leads them not to appreciate that metaphysical questions can either be straightforwardly answered, since they are not theoretical questions at all, or are based on category mistakes and are, thus, better left unanswered. I probe the stability of the proposed strategy and indicate how a suitably understood empiricist approach can make room for the intelligibility and significance of metaphysical questions, even if it is unclear how to resolve them in the end.