The Hitchhikers Guide to Fundamentality | Jonathan Schaffer | TEDxYouth@CherryHillEastHS

In his talk, Dr. Schaffer addresses the history of the pluralism vs. monism debate and where we currently stand on metaphysical fundamentality.

I received my Ph.D. from Rutgers in 1999, and have since worked at the University of Houston, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and the Australian National University, before returning to Rutgers in 2011. My main research area is metaphysics, and I have focused on the notion of fundamentality, and tried to revive the classical monistic idea that what is fundamental is the cosmos as a whole. I have further research interests in epistemology, in which I have advanced contrastive ideas of knowledge, as well as in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of science.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx