Workshop: Fundamentality and the Fringes of Explanation

14.-15. October 2022

This workshop (organized by Benjamin Schnieder and Yannic Kappes as part of the project The Structure of Fundamentality) will take place 14.-15. October 2022 and explore issues surrounding the notion of fundamentality, its connections to notions such as grounding and explanation, as well as its theoretical applications.

Relevant questions are, for instance: Can the notion of fundamentality be defined in terms of grounding, explanation, etc.? Can certain fundamental facts be explained, in some ways, despite being fundamental?

Examples for issues that will be addressed at the workshop include: the notion of merely partial grounding, zero-grounding, explanatory autonomy, explanation by status, ultimate explanation, null-explanation, self-explanation and infinitely descending chains of ground, understanding and explanation-like phenomena in the absence of explanation proper, etc


Timetable and rooms:

14.10., room 2H NIG

  • 10:00-11:00   Sara Bernstein
  • 11:30-12:30   Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra & Tien-Chun Lo (remote)
  • 14:30-15:30   Alex Skiles
  • 16:00-17:00   Al Wilson & Mike Hicks (remote)


15.10., room 3D NIG

  • 10:00-11:00   Jon E. Litland
  • 11:30-12:30   Roberto Loss (remote)
  • 14:30-15:30   Lisa Vogt & Jonas Werner
  • 16:00-17:00   Julio De Rizzo


Please send a mail to yannic.kappes@univie.ac.at if you intend to participate.