Fundamentality in Physics and Metaphysics

关于根本性的争论是当代形而上学的中心。同样，基本性也成为物理学哲学辩论的关键。然而，关于后者，往往不清楚这一概念的确切含义。对科学哲学中的基本问题的研究通常没有充分注意到关于这个问题的形而上学的工作。另一方面，当元哲学家试图阐明基本性等概念时，科学案例研究很少。因此，本项目的总体目标是汇集物理学、物理学哲学和形而上学对基本性的观点，研究物理学和形而上学中基本性问题的不同维度，并回答物理学和形而上学哲学交叉点上紧迫的概念、本体论和方法论问题。具体来说，本项目的目的是探索物理学和形而上学中的基本性，涉及以下研究问题：（i）物理学和形而上学中使用了哪些基本性概念，它们是如何联系的？(ii)对于什么可以作为基本原则有什么限制吗？(iii)是什么决定了依赖关系的方向？(iv)我们如何才能卓有成效地将关于基本原则的辩论与关于现实的辩论区分开来？(v)物理学对形而上学的确切贡献是什么？

Debates on fundamentality are at the center of contemporary metaphysics. Similarly, fundamentality has become key to debates in the philosophy of physics. However, with respect to the latter, it is often unclear what is meant precisely by the concept. Investigations into issues of fundamentality in the philosophy of science are usually conducted without taking sufficient notice of the metaphysical work on the matter. On the other hand, scientific case studies are scarce when metaphysicians try to articulate notions like fundamentality. Hence, the general aim of this project is bringing together perspectives on fundamentality from physics, philosophy of physics, and metaphysics to study the different dimensions of issues of fundamentality in physics and metaphysics, and answer pressing conceptual, ontological and methodological questions at the intersection of philosophy of physics and metaphysics. Specifically, the aim of this project is to explore fundamentality in physics and metaphysics with respect to the following research questions: (i) What concepts of fundamentality are used in physics and metaphysics and how are they related? (ii) Are there any constraints on what can serve as a fundamental? (iii) What fixes the direction of dependence relations? (iv) How can we fruitfully demarcate debates on fundamentality from debates on reality? (v) What is the exact contribution of physics to metaphysics?