The instituting of brute facts

An earlier version of this paper was submitted to a working group at the Conference of the International Association of Philosophy and Literature (Atlanta, 1989), and discussed with H.N. Casta~neda (Bloomington, 1989). I am grateful for the valuable criticism received on both occasions. My visit to the United States was supported by a grant from the Dutch Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen and from my own Faculty of Philosophy at Tilburg University, which I acknowledge with sincere gratitude.