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Rational Foundationalism

File(s)
McIntosh_cornellgrad_0058F_11922.pdf (1.53 MB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://doi.org/10.7298/3ab9-cm91
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/103015
Collections
Cornell Theses and Dissertations
Author
McIntosh, Chad Alan
Abstract

Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence. Philosophers have used this principle in arguments for the existence of something ontologically fundamental, an ultimate ground of being, such as God. But if everything has an explanation of its existence, so, too, does whatever is fundamental. I analyze what five prominent historical figures—Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz—have said about how a fundamental being, a being that exists a se, is explained. While none are satisfactory, several lessons are drawn from them to construct a novel proposal, which requires a new way of thinking about absolute and relative fundamentality. If what is fundamental is identified with God, certain Scholastic doctrines about the divine nature, such as absolute simplicity, will have to be abandoned—a consequence that I argue is a virtue rather than vice of the proposal.

Description
172 pages
Date Issued
2020-08
Keywords
Cosmological Argument
•
Explanation
•
Fundamentality
•
Grounding
•
Principle of Sufficient Reason
Committee Chair
Pereboom, Derk
Committee Member
Bennett, Karen
MacDonald, Scott C.
Degree Discipline
Philosophy
Degree Name
Ph. D., Philosophy
Degree Level
Doctor of Philosophy
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Type
dissertation or thesis
Link(s) to Catalog Record
https://catalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/13277688

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