Survey Results

Principle of sufficient reason: true or false?

Population

AOS

Region

for

Exclude answers beyond respondent's first 50

Include skip/insufficiently familiar answers

936 respondents

What the percentages mean: "Accept or lean toward P: 50% (40%)" means that 50% of respondents endorsed this answer inclusively (including multiple-answer endorsements) and 40% endorsed this answer exclusively (excluding multiple-answer endorsements).

These results should not be used for comparison to 2009 results due to different populations and parameters. For meaningful longitudinal comparisons, see the longitudinal analysis section.

Collapse accept and lean towards

Accept or lean towards:
true

35.90% (35.47%)

Reject or lean against:
true

0.00% (0.00%)

Accept or lean towards:
false

45.73% (45.62%)

Reject or lean against:
false

0.21% (0.00%)

Accept a combination of views

0.43%

Accept an alternative view

1.07%

The question is too unclear to answer

2.67%

There is no fact of the matter

0.75%

Agnostic/undecided

13.68%

Other

0.32%

N = 936, excluding skipped & insufficiently familiar (188 respondents)

Alternative Views

12 target respondents indicated that they accept or lean toward an alternative view. The words used in their responses cluster as follows. These results are not filtered by AOS, region, etc.

PRAG (3): pragmatist (1) pragmatic (1) pragmatically (1)
ONLY (3): only (3)

Longitudinal comparison to 2009 survey

This question was not in the 2009 survey

Strongest correlations with main questions (target population)

r: 0.34	God: theism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	122	183
Reject	70	457

n: 832

p < 0.0001

r: 0.29	Cosmological fine-tuning: design
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	79	140
Reject	44	328

n: 591

p < 0.0001

r: -0.29	Practical reason: Humean
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	55	185
Reject	146	203

n: 589

p < 0.0001

r: 0.27	Free will: libertarianism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	113	203
Reject	79	443

n: 838

p < 0.0001

r: -0.26	Human genetic engineering: permissible
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	154	101
Reject	338	98

n: 691

p < 0.0001

r: -0.26	Abortion: permissible
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	196	84
Reject	426	58

n: 764

p < 0.0001

r: 0.26	Meaning of life: objective
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	158	132
Reject	152	277

n: 719

p < 0.0001

r: -0.26	Metaphilosophy: naturalism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	129	161
Reject	271	163

n: 724

p < 0.0001

r: 0.25	Arguments for theism: cosmological
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	90	155
Reject	85	305

n: 635

p < 0.0001

r: -0.25	Mind: physicalism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	138	173
Reject	307	188

n: 806

p < 0.0001

r: -0.23	Cosmological fine-tuning: brute fact
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	50	170
Reject	132	237

n: 589

p < 0.0001

r: 0.21	Practical reason: Aristotelian
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	126	113
Reject	125	225

n: 589

p < 0.0001

r: -0.2	Free will: compatibilism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	161	156
Reject	352	171

n: 840

p < 0.0001

r: -0.2	Units of selection: genes
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	77	94
Reject	145	128

n: 444

p < 0.0001

r: -0.2	Analysis of knowledge: no analysis
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	54	204
Reject	178	278

n: 714

p < 0.0001

r: 0.2	Spacetime: relationism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	97	64
Reject	118	182

n: 461

p < 0.0001

r: 0.2	Aim of philosophy: wisdom
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	142	168
Reject	141	337

n: 788

p < 0.0001

r: -0.2	Time travel: metaphysically possible
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	105	156
Reject	207	205

n: 673

p < 0.0001

r: -0.19	Meaning of life: nonexistent
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	49	240
Reject	107	318

n: 714

p < 0.0001

r: 0.19	Temporal ontology: presentism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	59	128
Reject	52	285

n: 524

p < 0.0001

r: -0.18	Temporal ontology: eternalism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	68	119
Reject	157	180

n: 524

p < 0.0001

r: 0.18	Propositions: acts
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	33	172
Reject	20	328

n: 553

p < 0.0001

r: 0.18	Analysis of knowledge: justified true belief
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	93	165
Reject	87	369

n: 714

p < 0.0001

r: 0.17	External world: idealism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	38	273
Reject	20	505

n: 836

p < 0.0001

r: 0.17	Vagueness: epistemic
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	94	169
Reject	105	355

n: 723

p < 0.0001

r: -0.17	Normative ethics: consequentialism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	89	211
Reject	193	276

n: 769

p < 0.0001

r: 0.17	Meta-ethics: moral realism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	240	69
Reject	345	170

n: 824

p < 0.0001

r: 0.16	Normative ethics: virtue ethics
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	160	143
Reject	166	302

n: 771

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Consciousness: functionalism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	67	167
Reject	170	255

n: 659

p < 0.0001

r: 0.16	Aesthetic value: objective
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	175	125
Reject	225	245

n: 770

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Footbridge: push
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	62	230
Reject	148	343

n: 783

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Quantum mechanics: collapse
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	22	130
Reject	53	216

n: 421

p: 0.0012

r: 0.16	Arguments for theism: moral
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	39	205
Reject	29	356

n: 629

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Trolley problem: switch
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	190	85
Reject	383	101

n: 759

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Law: legal positivism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	66	101
Reject	116	151

n: 434

p: 0.0011

r: 0.16	Other minds: particles
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	11	264
Reject	6	471

n: 752

p < 0.0001

r: -0.15	Morality: expressivism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	18	239
Reject	59	386

n: 702

p < 0.0001

r: 0.15	Philosophical methods: conceptual analysis
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	257	60
Reject	373	149

n: 839

p < 0.0001

r: 0.15	Mental content: internalism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	100	162
Reject	119	338

n: 719

p < 0.0001

r: 0.14	Aim of philosophy: goodness/justice
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	103	207
Reject	112	362

n: 784

p < 0.0001

r: -0.14	Knowledge: empiricism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	135	136
Reject	234	186

n: 691

p: 0.0002

r: -0.14	Morality: error theory
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	13	243
Reject	30	414

n: 700

p: 0.0003

r: 0.14	Time: A-theory
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	77	121
Reject	101	260

n: 559

p: 0.0012

r: 0.13	Aim of philosophy: happiness
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	62	242
Reject	62	403

n: 769

p: 0.0002

r: 0.13	Belief or credence: belief
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	82	117
Reject	101	252

n: 552

p: 0.0018

r: -0.13	Cosmological fine-tuning: no fine-tuning
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	43	176
Reject	101	269

n: 589

p: 0.0013

r: -0.13	Philosophical progress: a lot
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	122	188
Reject	285	252

n: 847

p < 0.0001

r: 0.13	Material composition: restrictivism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	70	79
Reject	95	151

n: 395

p: 0.0094

r: 0.13	Personal identity: further-fact view
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	71	201
Reject	75	349

n: 696

p: 0.0006

r: -0.13	Foundations of mathematics: structuralism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	21	110
Reject	76	208

n: 415

p: 0.0088

r: 0.13	Philosophical progress: none
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	17	293
Reject	13	523

n: 846

p: 0.0002

r: 0.13	Gender categories: preserve
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	79	167
Reject	72	332

n: 650

p: 0.0013

r: 0.12	Arguments for theism: ontological
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	41	199
Reject	33	353

n: 626

p: 0.0019

r: -0.12	Truth: deflationary
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	58	235
Reject	152	328

n: 773

p: 0.0006

r: 0.12	Morality: non-naturalism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	94	164
Reject	119	323

n: 700

p: 0.0011

r: 0.12	Truth: epistemic
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	43	250
Reject	39	443

n: 775

p: 0.0006

r: 0.12	Gender: biological
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	125	164
Reject	140	310

n: 739

p: 0.0009

r: 0.12	Moral judgment: cognitivism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	242	60
Reject	369	135

n: 806

p: 0.0006

r: 0.12	Consciousness: dualism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	83	153
Reject	96	328

n: 660

p: 0.0022

r: 0.12	Propositional attitudes: phenomenal
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	21	185
Reject	22	327

n: 555

p: 0.0057

r: -0.12	Other minds: future AI systems
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	106	169
Reject	196	281

n: 752

p: 0.0013

r: -0.12	Justification: reliabilism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	75	149
Reject	152	240

n: 616

p: 0.0038

r: -0.12	Science: scientific realism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	242	66
Reject	414	92

n: 814

p: 0.001

r: -0.11	Meaning of life: subjective
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	99	192
Reject	172	257

n: 720

p: 0.0021

r: -0.11	Other minds: cats
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	247	28
Reject	454	23

n: 752

p: 0.0018

r: -0.11	True contradictions: impossible
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	184	64
Reject	334	89

n: 671

p: 0.0045

r: 0.11	Hard problem of consciousness: yes
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	199	67
Reject	265	178

n: 709

p: 0.0035

r: -0.11	Gender: social
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	187	104
Reject	328	127

n: 746

p: 0.0033

r: 0.11	Proper names: Fregean
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	96	122
Reject	146	244

n: 608

p: 0.0091

r: -0.11	Eating animals and animal products: veganism (no and no)
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	44	268
Reject	118	402

n: 832

p: 0.0024

r: 0.11	Response to external-world skepticism: pragmatic
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	64	164
Reject	84	323

n: 635

p: 0.0081

r: -0.1	Propositional attitudes: representational
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	99	108
Reject	192	166

n: 565

p: 0.013

r: -0.1	Philosophical methods: empirical philosophy
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	196	121
Reject	342	180

n: 839

p: 0.0025

r: -0.1	Normative concepts: fit
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	13	207
Reject	36	308

n: 564

p: 0.0133

r: 0.1	Interlevel metaphysics: grounding
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	82	103
Reject	103	218

n: 506

p: 0.021

r: 0.1	Eating animals and animal products: omnivorism (yes and yes)
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	192	122
Reject	268	251

n: 833

p: 0.0033

r: -0.1	External world: non-skeptical realism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	260	50
Reject	459	66

n: 835

p: 0.0037

r: -0.1	Race: social
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	194	106
Reject	324	127

n: 751

p: 0.0062

r: 0.1	Immortality: yes
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	156	114
Reject	222	246

n: 738

p: 0.0082

r: -0.1	Vagueness: semantic
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	138	125
Reject	266	196

n: 725

p: 0.0101

r: -0.1	Perceptual experience: representationalism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	104	131
Reject	176	210

n: 621

p: 0.0174

r: -0.09	Philosophical methods: formal philosophy
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	187	130
Reject	344	178

n: 839

p: 0.006

r: 0.09	Philosophical progress: a little
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	170	140
Reject	237	300

n: 847

p: 0.0062

r: -0.09	Grounds of intentionality: interpretational
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	23	157
Reject	53	257

n: 490

p: 0.0398

r: -0.09	Interlevel metaphysics: realization
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	38	143
Reject	87	234

n: 502

p: 0.0432

r: -0.09	Gender categories: revise
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	123	124
Reject	235	171

n: 653

p: 0.0232

r: 0.09	Values in science: necessarily value-laden
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	117	133
Reject	178	261

n: 689

p: 0.0198

r: -0.09	Causation: counterfactual/difference-making
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	74	139
Reject	154	245

n: 612

p: 0.0283

r: -0.09	Morality: naturalist realism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	81	179
Reject	157	288

n: 705

p: 0.019

r: 0.09	Political philosophy: communitarianism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	96	167
Reject	121	295

n: 679

p: 0.023

r: -0.09	Response to external-world skepticism: epistemic externalist
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	41	183
Reject	99	305

n: 628

p: 0.0302

r: 0.09	True contradictions: possible but non-actual
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	16	232
Reject	16	407

n: 671

p: 0.0253

r: -0.09	Values in science: necessarily value-free
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	42	208
Reject	94	345

n: 689

p: 0.0239

r: -0.08	Belief or credence: credence
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	57	142
Reject	125	228

n: 552

p: 0.0472

r: -0.08	Political philosophy: egalitarianism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	120	144
Reject	220	196

n: 680

p: 0.0308

r: 0.08	Theory of reference: descriptive
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	59	152
Reject	92	283

n: 586

p: 0.0452

r: 0.08	Consciousness: panpsychism
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	31	205
Reject	26	399

n: 661

p: 0.0346

r: 0.08	Causation: primitive
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	59	151
Reject	92	301

n: 603

p: 0.0476

r: -0.08	Mind uploading: survival
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	65	187
Reject	131	304

n: 687

p: 0.0351

r: -0.08	Philosophical methods: conceptual engineering
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Accept	Reject
Accept	125	192
Reject	233	289

n: 839

p: 0.02

Strongest correlations with demographic questions (target population)

r: 0.25	Philosopher: Aquinas
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	31	238
Reject	5	405

n: 679

p < 0.0001

r: 0.2	AOS: Philosophy of Religion
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	63	261
Reject	37	511

n: 872

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Philosopher: Quine
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	14	255
Reject	51	359

n: 679

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Philosopher: Hume
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	33	236
Reject	85	325

n: 679

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Tradition: Analytic
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	258	62
Reject	486	55

n: 861

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	AOS: General Philosophy of Science
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	29	295
Reject	81	467

n: 872

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	AOS: Philosophy of Language
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	28	296
Reject	116	432

n: 872

p < 0.0001

r: -0.16	Philosopher: Russell
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	9	260
Reject	44	366

n: 679

p < 0.0001

r: 0.15	AOS: Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	21	303
Reject	9	539

n: 872

p < 0.0001

r: -0.14	AOS: Logic and Philosophy of Logic
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	19	305
Reject	67	481

n: 872

p < 0.0001

r: 0.14	Philosopher: Aristotle
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	70	199
Reject	67	343

n: 679

p: 0.0002

r: -0.14	Philosopher: Lewis
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	16	253
Reject	58	352

n: 679

p: 0.0004

r: 0.12	Tradition: Continental
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	26	294
Reject	16	525

n: 861

p: 0.0003

r: -0.12	Philosopher: Carnap
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	7	262
Reject	39	371

n: 679

p: 0.0013

r: 0.12	AOS: 17th/18th Century Philosophy
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	52	272
Reject	46	502

n: 872

p: 0.0006

r: 0.11	Philosopher: Husserl
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	13	256
Reject	5	405

n: 679

p: 0.0029

r: 0.11	Philosopher: Locke
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	15	254
Reject	5	405

n: 679

p: 0.004

r: 0.11	Philosopher: Plato
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	25	244
Reject	20	390

n: 679

p: 0.0041

r: 0.11	AOS: Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	30	294
Reject	21	527

n: 872

p: 0.0016

r: -0.11	AOS: Philosophy of Biology
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	7	317
Reject	26	522

n: 872

p: 0.0017

r: 0.11	AOS: Applied Ethics
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	48	276
Reject	58	490

n: 872

p: 0.0017

r: 0.1	Tradition: Other tradition
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	36	284
Reject	39	502

n: 861

p: 0.0028

r: 0.1	Philosopher: Berkeley
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	6	263
Reject	1	409

n: 679

p: 0.0107

r: -0.1	AOS: Metaphysics
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	81	243
Reject	160	388

n: 872

p: 0.0042

r: -0.09	Philosopher: Frege
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	13	256
Reject	44	366

n: 679

p: 0.0151

r: -0.09	AOS: Epistemology
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	67	257
Reject	160	388

n: 872

p: 0.006

r: 0.09	Philosopher: Spinoza
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	12	257
Reject	7	403

n: 679

p: 0.0161

r: 0.09	Philosopher: Heidegger
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	11	258
Reject	6	404

n: 679

p: 0.0214

r: 0.09	Philosopher: Du Bois
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	6	263
Reject	1	409

n: 679

p: 0.0231

r: -0.09	AOS: Decision Theory
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	6	318
Reject	24	524

n: 872

p: 0.0109

r: 0.08	Philosopher: Socrates
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	13	256
Reject	11	399

n: 679

p: 0.0341

r: 0.08	Philosopher: Rawls
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	13	256
Reject	14	396

n: 679

p: 0.0383

r: -0.08	AOS: Philosophy of Physical Science
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	10	314
Reject	25	523

n: 872

p: 0.0264

r: 0.07	AOS: Aesthetics
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	24	300
Reject	23	525

n: 872

p: 0.03

r: 0.07	AOS: 19th Century Philosophy
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	20	304
Reject	17	531

n: 872

p: 0.0426

r: -0.07	AOS: Philosophy of Mathematics
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	6	318
Reject	26	522

n: 872

p: 0.0452

r: 0.07	AOS: Social and Political Philosophy
Principle of sufficient reason: true	Yes	No
Accept	51	273
Reject	67	481

n: 872

p: 0.0454