It is argued that Quinean rent (Quine’s five virtues) don’t suffice to ontologically commit us to the existence of posits. To this end, the “black box” objection is deployed against the “success argument” of Boyd and Putnam. Ontological commitment is restricted to items we take to be ontologically independent of us, and it is shown to apply to thick and thin posits. Along the way, a version of the Eleatic principle—that those items we are ontologically committed to are causally efficacious—is established.
Keywords: The black box objection, causation, the Eleatic principle, ontological commitment, ontological independence, Quinean rent, Quine’s five virtues, the success argument, thick posit, thin posit