The fundamental and the brute

This paper distinguishes bruteness from fundamentality by developing a theory of stochastic grounding that makes room for non-fundamental bruteness. Stochastic grounding relations, which only underwrite incomplete explanations, arise when the fundamental level underdetermines derivative levels. The framework is applied to fission cases, showing how one can break symmetries and mitigate bruteness whilst avoiding arbitrariness and hypersensitivity.

Automated summary

This paper introduces a theory of stochastic grounding to differentiate between bruteness and fundamentality, showing how symmetries can be broken and bruteness can be mitigated in fission cases.