According to ontological pluralism, being isn't univocal—there is more than one kind of being or way to exist. And let ontological degreeism be the view that being is gradable—some entities enjoy more being or a greater degree of existence than others. Being fragments just in case either ontological pluralism or degreeism is true. While the idea that being fragments has played an import role in the history of philosophy, it's perhaps an understatement to say that it hasn't held much currency in contemporary analytic metaphysics. In his book The Fragmentation of Being, Kris McDaniel argues, however, that both ontological pluralism and degreeism are reasonable and fruitful views deserving of our consideration.
The first six chapters of The Fragmentation of Being are devoted to ontological pluralism. In the first chapter McDaniel develops a version of this thesis that combines elements of views articulated by Heidegger and Theodore Sider. According...
