Dependence, Constituency, and Explanation

FAIN: FB-55037-10

Kathrin Marion Koslicki
Regents of the University of Colorado, Boulder (Boulder, CO 80303-1058)

A significant reorientation is currently under way in analytic metaphysics (the study of being and our relation to it), away from an almost exclusive focus on questions of existence ("What is there?") and towards a greater concentration on questions of dependence, e.g., questions concerning the grounding of one type of phenomenon by another. Surprisingly, despite the central role dependence has played in philosophy since its inception, interest in a systematic study of this concept has only recently surged among contemporary metaphysicians. My proposed project consists of a book-length study of the concept of dependence and the role it can play in shaping a viable approach to metaphysics for the 21st century.