Vassallo, Antonio (2026) Metaphysical Hybridization. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Philosophers typically classify causation, grounding, and other determination relations as distinct kinds. These relations are often modeled in set-theoretic terms, but this treatment ends up flattening the rich conceptual structure that makes determination metaphysically significant. As a result, accounts of mixed chains of determination often appear fragmented and unconvincing, especially in cases drawn from fundamental physics. This paper develops a novel approach for modeling determination that avoids the information loss of purely extensional treatments and captures hybrid cases within a unified representation. The framework uses the geometrical structure of conceptual spaces to expand the metaphysician's toolkit for analyzing the multi-faceted nature of determination. Finally, the paper argues that the explanatory success of this framework supports an underlying metaphysical thesis: That there is a single, primordial form of determination.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | Forthcoming in Erkenntnis | ||||||
| Keywords: | Dependence relations; determination; grounding; causation; conceptual spaces; unification. | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory |
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| Depositing User: | Antonio Vassallo | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 28 Jun 2026 11:23 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 28 Jun 2026 11:23 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 30276 | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1007/s10670-026-01140-w | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory |
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| Date: | 2026 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/30276 |
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