Research

Articles/Book Chapters

1. "Classification and Artificial Dispositions" (Artificial Dispositions: Investigating Ethical and Metaphysical Issues, Bloomsbury Press, 2024). 

Abstract: This chapter sketches a taxonomy of artificial dispositions where humans play a part in the triggering mechanisms for those dispositions’ manifestations, and those dispositions that require humans for certain kinds of manifestations to be sustained. Thus the way and extent to which a disposition will count as artificial will be a matter of degree. The chapter argues for adopting an approach from the literature on natural kinds, sometimes called an “epistemic” or “pragmatic” turn, and takes aim at a traditional criterion for something’s being real, i.e. mind-independence, while the proposed alternative criterion is a causal criterion. The chapter goes on to address complications for this taxonomy with potential difficulties from mimics, and a variety of dispositions sometimes purported to exist which I’ll call “apocryphal dispositions”. 

2. "Wittgenstein and Redundant Truth" (Philosophia 2020,  48, 1515-1525).

Abstract:  In the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein is sometimes claimed to hold a redundancy (or deflationary) theory of truth. The main evidence to support this view, however, comes from a single passage, number 136, which has been misinterpreted.  In this essay I argue for an alternative interpretation of the critical passage in question. The purpose behind Wittgenstein’s remarks is not to provide a general theory of truth, per se.  Rather, Wittgenstein uses the section as a way to introduce his notion of fit, a notion that will play a more substantial role in his later arguments on following rules. Furthermore, if Wittgenstein did hold something close to a redundancy theory of truth, such a view would illuminate remarks from the earlier notebooks about a crucial Tractarian view rather than his later view from the Investigations: the so-called “Picture Theory”. 

3.  "Causal Powers and Isomeric Chemical Kinds" (Synthese 2018, Volume 195, Issue 4, pp. 1441–1457).

Abstract:  Some philosophers have claimed that (natural) kinds can be construed as mereologically complex structural properties. This essay examines sev- eral strategies aimed at construing a certain class of natural kinds, namely isomeric chemical kinds, in accordance with this view. In particular, the essay examines views which posit structural proper parts in addition to micro-constitutive parts to individuate isomeric chemical kinds. It then goes on to argue that the phenomenon of chirality in stereochemistry gives the proponent of kinds-as-complex-properties evidence for positing the existence of causal-cum-dispositional individuating proper parts, in addition to structural parts, for chemical enantiomeric kinds.

4.  "Misfired Slingshots: A Case Study in the Confusion of Metaphysics and Semantics"  (Logos & Episteme 2013, Vol. IV, Issue 4, pp. 407-432).

Abstract:  Most philosophers today will acknowledge the pitfalls of confusing metaphysical and semantic issues. Many are also familiar with the classic semi-formal argument that has come to be known as ‘the Slingshot’ and the various philosophical ends to which this argument has been deployed. The combination of the argument’s relatively simple theoretical machinery and its wide range of applications make it ripe for abuse. The slingshot was originally conceived as a semantic argument about designation; what it suggests, but does not prove, is that the closest analogue to singular term reference for any expression is that expression’s semantic extension. In order to derive more  metaphysically robust conclusions, however, many classical deployments of the argument make use of several methodologically suspicious tactics. By cataloguing the more frequent abuses of the argument, we may remind ourselves of a valuable philosophical lesson.

Edited Special Issues

1.  Causation in the Metaphysics of Science:  Natural Kinds (Synthese 2018)  

Description:  This special issue is based in part on a workshop titled The Metaphysics of Science:  Causation and Natural Kinds held in March 20-21, 2014, held at the Institute of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST) in Paris.  The present special issue is intended to consolidate the burgeoning new movement known as the metaphysics of science.  It focuses on tackling specific metaphysical problems, namely causation, and – through a causal approach – natural kinds, in an empirically informed manner.  The strategy is to maintain as close contact as possible between metaphysical inquiry and inquiry in the philosophy of science.  This issue brings together a number of essays devoted to a discussion of the relationship between causation and natural kinds from within the framework of metaphysics of science. To this end the special issue brings together both philosophers of science interested in specific metaphysical notions like cause, kind, and individuality, as well as metaphysicians interested in the metaphysical implications of scientific practice and inquiry. 

News Article Interviews

1. "I Found $90 on the Subway. Is it Yours?" (New York Times, Jan. 2019).

Book Reviews

1.  "Remarks on Koslicki's Theory of Mereological Hylomorphism" (in ProtoSociology, 2011).