Metaphysical Rationalism

TLDR

The Principle of Sufficient Reason holds that everything has an explanation, though differing notions of explanation yield distinct versions of the principle. The paper formulates a version of the principle using a grounding explanation. The authors explore the consequences of this grounding-based principle, noting it implies necessitarianism, and defend it against objections, including those to necessitarianism. The study concludes with a defense of a rationalist metaphysics that challenges contemporary dogmas about metaphysical brute facts and the world's contingency.

Abstract

Abstract The Principle of Sufficient Reason states that everything has an explanation. But different notions of explanation yield different versions of this principle. Here a version is formulated in terms of the notion of a “grounding” explanation. Its consequences are then explored, with particular emphasis on the fact that it implies necessitarianism, the view that every truth is necessarily true. Finally, the principle is defended from a number of objections, including objections to necessitarianism. The result is a defense of a “rationalist” metaphysics, one that constitutes an alternative to the contemporary dogmas that some aspects of the world are “metaphysically brute” and that the world could in so many ways have been different.