Fundamental principles: purity and neutrality

Abstract

Abstract I offer a new position in debates about the Purity Principle, roughly, whether the fundamental truths/facts may have nonfundamental constituents. Purity is intuitively compelling and plays an important role in many debates. Nevertheless, there are also reasons to doubt Purity. In this paper I attempt to retain the grain of truth in the Purity Principle by proposing a different, less-demanding Neutrality Principle, roughly, that fundamental truths or facts turn only their fundamental constituents.