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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that P4's principle conflates metaphysical dependence with ontological commitment, treating them as equivalent when they are distinct relations (Fine, 'Ontological Dependence').

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.If P4 treats dependence relations as explanatory, conflating them with commitment may obscure rather than clarify metaphysical structure.
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    • 2.Ontological commitment presupposes metaphysical dependence: we commit only to entities whose existence is genuinely possible or dependent.
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    • 3.Fine's own work suggests dependence relations determine what commitments are coherent, making them foundational rather than distinct.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Metaphysical dependence concerns what must exist for something to exist; ontological commitment concerns what a theory asserts exists.
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    • 2.A theory can be committed to abstracta (numbers) without those abstracta depending on concrete objects for their existence.
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    • 3.Fine's distinction preserves the intuition that some entities are fundamentally independent yet theoretically indispensable.
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