Abstract
"All men are mortal", " water isH2O", "an electron has a negative charge": how could such obviously empirical propositions become the object of metaphysics? Some philosophers have invoked principles such as bridge laws (according to Nagel), an " a priori principle of passage" (Jackson) or factorization and "apriorification" (Fine), to bring knowledge of nature back into the fold of metaphysics. What is the epistemological nature of these principles and methods? Analysis suggests that it is very difficult to extract them from a semantic framework or conceptual schema (pace Davidson). We propose that philosophy should modestly limit itself to the task of interpreting and classifying paths of meaning. Despite the spectre of the relativity of knowledge and the constructivism of knowledge, it will be argued that this interpretive approach can nevertheless provide the epistemology of a realistic ontology.
