Ciò che vi potrebbe essere

(What There Could Be)

Abstract

The essay consists of two sections. The first section is an attempt to see how an ontology could look like from an anti-reductionist point of view. Given the intertwining between ontology and epistemology, the idea is stressed according to which the fundamental ontological aim is best accomplished not by asking “What is there?” but “What could there be?” The second section focuses on Hilary Putnam’s metaphysical stance, highlights the phenomenon of “conceptual relativity,” and tries to clarify the sense in which Putnam deems that the very project of ontology amounts to flogging a dead horse.