Mind-independence, realism, and reality
Mind-independence, realism, and reality
Some metaphysically interesting notions fall outside of the realm of the mind-independent, and as such will erroneously be considered unworthy of our attention by any view that thinks only of realist metaphysics as substantive (Taylor, 2023). In this article I propose two ways of conceiving of substantive metaphysics that includes some mind-dependent phenomena. The first is to understand substantivity in terms of carving at the joints, but to take where the ‘joints’ are to depend in part on our own interests, preferences, and conceptual schemes (the joints are ours, not nature’s). The second is to think of ‘reality’ as a system of explanatory dependence that includes some suitably embedded mind-dependent phenomena, and thus to deny (if we continue to characterize realism in terms of mind-independence) that we should be realists about all of ‘reality’.
524-541
Thompson, Naomi
b382645c-7f77-428b-871a-8552466ec04d
September 2025
Thompson, Naomi
b382645c-7f77-428b-871a-8552466ec04d
Thompson, Naomi
(2025)
Mind-independence, realism, and reality.
Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 11 (3), .
(doi:10.1017/apa.2025.2).
Abstract
Some metaphysically interesting notions fall outside of the realm of the mind-independent, and as such will erroneously be considered unworthy of our attention by any view that thinks only of realist metaphysics as substantive (Taylor, 2023). In this article I propose two ways of conceiving of substantive metaphysics that includes some mind-dependent phenomena. The first is to understand substantivity in terms of carving at the joints, but to take where the ‘joints’ are to depend in part on our own interests, preferences, and conceptual schemes (the joints are ours, not nature’s). The second is to think of ‘reality’ as a system of explanatory dependence that includes some suitably embedded mind-dependent phenomena, and thus to deny (if we continue to characterize realism in terms of mind-independence) that we should be realists about all of ‘reality’.
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mind-independence-realism-and-reality
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e-pub ahead of print date: 7 March 2025
Published date: September 2025
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Local EPrints ID: 512023
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/512023
ISSN: 2053-4477
PURE UUID: a38c0734-2aa5-4f72-b86c-2475f0c25a06
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Date deposited: 12 Jun 2026 16:31
Last modified: 12 Jun 2026 16:32
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