Rationalist Contingency

The Principle of Sufficient Reason is the principle that there is an explanation for everything. While historically significant, it has largely fallen from favor in contemporary metaphysics; in full generality, it is widely held to have untenable implications. Foremost among these is necessitarianism—the claim that everything actually true is necessarily true. This paper consists of two arguments: one negative, the other positive. The first establishes that the standard argument linking the PSR to necessitarianism fails; rationalists have independent reasons to reject the argument’s background assumptions. The second provides a positive reason to hold that the PSR allows for contingency; there are distinct models of facts that are each compatible with the PSR. The PSR thus allows for it to be contingent which model obtains. I conclude that, if we are to reject the PSR, it is not because it gives rise to necessitarianism