Journal of Philosophical Research

Volume 40, 2015

Katarzyna Paprzycka
Pages 293-296

Metaphysical or Linguistic Indeterminacy? A Reply to Hendrickson’s Reply

In reply to my criticism of his argument for the fine-grained theory of action individuation, Hendrickson proposes a new argument. He notes that there is a kind of indeterminacy with respect to Caesar’s death in the case of Brutus’s stabbing of Caesar that is missing in the case of Brutus’s killing of Caesar. He argues that the best explanation for the indeterminacy is given by the fine-grained view. I show that the argument fails for similar reasons. Minimalists have good reasons not to accept a crucial premise, viz., that the indeterminacy is metaphysical rather than merely linguistic.