The metametaphysics as a methodological project

• Grant number: 23/18176-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: February 29, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Metaphysics
• Principal Investigator: Marco Antonio Caron Ruffino
• Grantee: Gabriel Andersen Eugênio
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

When analyzing metaphysical debates, some objects are traditionally the subject of discussion due to their challenging nature. Two of these are fictional and mathematical objects. There is a profusion of positions on the existence of such entities, so there is no expectation of a consensus on such ontological problems. Thus, these objects have become a starting point for discussing methodological issues in metaphysics, such as what questions we can answer in metaphysics, how we can answer them and, given an answer, what this would represent. These are questions for metametaphysics. Within this context, this project proposes to investigate the metametaphysical debate by studying mainly fictional entities. It also proposes to solve traditional metaphysical problems by applying the methodology derived from what Amie Thomasson calls Easy Ontology. In this way, the aim is to show that an analysis centered on negotiations over the use of terms would be able to deal with problems of metaphysics related to such objects of a challenging nature. As an example, we intend to show that by analyzing the functions of terms, we could provide an answer to the problem of the wrong type of object, present in the debate on fictional objects.