Research

Research areas and interests

Metaphysics: dispositions, powers, causation
Philosophy of science: causation, anti-reductionism, complexity, context-sensitivity, induction
Philosophy of logic: the logic of conditionals, (truth) functionality, conditional probability, modality, logicism
Philosophy of language: conditionals, implicatures, contextualism, semantics/pragmatics distinction, meaning

Follow my research at:
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PhilPapers

Causation and dispositions

I recently ended a 3 year postdoctoral fellowship from the Norwegian Research Council (NFR). During this time I spent almost 3 years at Nottingham, working with Professor Stephen Mumford. We have co-authored a number of papers on the topic of causation and dispositions and the book Getting Causes From Powers. In the book we develop a dispositional theory of causation, where causes dispose towards their effects rather than necessitating them.

I am now Director of the 4 year research project Causation in Science - An interdisciplinary study of causal processes, hosted by UMB School of Economics and Business at Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) and funded by FRIHUM, NFR.

Getting Causes from Powers

Available now through all good bookshops, or direct from Oxford University Press at:

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199695614.do

Some papers and presentations

Spoils to the Vector', in The Monist 94 (1), January 2011: 54-80, with Stephen Mumford
'Double prevention and powers', Journal of Critical Realism 8.3, November 2009, with Stephen Mumford
'A biologically disposed theory of causation', paper presentation, with Stephen Mumford
'A powerful theory of causation', in Anna Marmodoro (Ed.) The Metaphysics of Powers: Their Grounding and Their Manifestations, Routledge 2010, with Stephen Mumford. A handout of an earlier version is found here.
'Dispositional modality', C. F. Gethmann (Ed.) Lebenswelt und Wissenschaft, Deutsches Jahrbuch Philosophie 2, Hamburg: Meiner Verlag 2011, 380-94, with Stephen Mumford.
'Causal Dispositionalism', in A. Bird, B. Ellis and H. Sankey (Eds), Properties, Powers and Structures: Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism, Routledge 2012, 91-107, with Stephen Mumford.
'Causations, Dispositions and Modality', paper presentation at University of Tampere, August 2010.
'Causal production without necessitation', paper presented in Turku, August 2010.
'Kausalitet og Disposisjoner', paper presentation at Universitetet i Oslo Februar 2010, and NTNU September 2010, with Stephen Mumford.
'With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility', (on dispositions, causation and responsibility), paper presentation in Aachen and Paris, with Stephen Mumford.
'A biologically disposed theory of causation', paper presentation at UMB, October 2011. An earlier version of the handout is found here.
'A dispositional theory of causation', paper presentation in Madrid, March 2011.

Conditionals
My doctoral research was on conditionals and their representations within formal logical systems. My view is that conditionals cannot be adequately accounted for within extensional logical systems. Conditionals must be taken as primitive and basic and cannot be a function of its antecedent and consequent. Hence the truth, assertability or probability of a conditionals cannot be inferred from the truth, assertability or probability of its antecedent and/or consequent. I defended my thesis Our Conditional World - A critique of the formal logical approach in September 2005. This project was fully funded by NFR, FRIHUM and the University of Tromsø.

Some papers and presentations

'Three dogmas of 'if'', in A. Leirfall & T. Sandmel (eds.), Enhet i Mangfold, Unipub 2008.
'What's wrong with logic', presentation at CSMN, University of Oslo, March 2010.
'The logic of 'if'' - Or how to philosophically eliminate conditional relations', Sorites 19, December 2007.
'All men are animals' with Arnt Myrstad.
'The paradoxes of conditional probability', with Arnt Myrstad. Presented at the Kent Causality workshop, 2008.
'Conditionals and their logical classification', with Nathalie Schapansky, draft.

Philosophy of language
I'm in general sceptical of the philosophical importance of extensional logical systems, both for language and mathematics. This is related to my interest in context. As I see it, context is decisive for all meaning, so-called literal, conventional or conversational. If this is the case, then a distinction between semantics and pragmatics cannot be drawn between context-independent (literal) and context-dependent (conversational) meaning.

I have edited an antology about sign language with Sissel Redse Jørgensen called Tegn som Språk (Signs as a Language). Sign language is an interesting philosophical phenomenon for anyone interested in contextualism, language aquisition, and philosophy of language in general. Read more about the book here.

Some papers and presentations

'Paul Grice', in Joose Järvenkylä (ed.), Tavallisen Kielen Filosofia (Ordinary Language Philosophy), forthcoming at Gaudeamus in 2012. Click here for full English version.
'Finnes det noe ubetinget i alt det betingede?', Festschrift for Hjørdis Nerheim, 2011.
'What We Tend to Mean', in Norsk Filosofisk Tidsskrift, 1 (46), 2001:20-33, with Stephen Mumford.
'Logic - A map of language?' Trial lecture for my Doctor Artium degree, University of Tromsø, September 2005.
'Confessions of a radical contextualist - Why I cannot give up on this thing called literal meaning', presentation at the research seminar, Nottingham 2008.
'En språklig verden - Noen tanker om språk og erkjennelse', in S. R. Jørgensen & R. L. Anjum (eds.), Tegn som Språk - En antologi om tegnspråk, Gyldendal Akademisk 2006.
'Språklig kommunikasjon som høyrisikosport', presentation at Lørdagsuniversitetet, Tromsø 2006.
'Svar ja eller nei uten å betenke deg - Om sannhetens uendelige modifikasjoner', presentation at Lørdagsuniversitetet, Tromsø 2010.

Subpages (14): A powerful theory of causation Causal Dispositionalism Confessions of a radical contextualist Dispositional modality Double prevention and powers En språklig verden Getting Causes From Powers It's not all in your genes Our Conditional World - A critique of the formal logical approach Spoils to the Vector Språklig kommunikasjon som høyrisikosport Tegn som Språk - Signs as Language The logic of 'if' Three dogmas of 'if'