Research

My research revolves around the notion of truth, and its relevance to and implications for philosophy. My primary concern has been in articulating the proper relationship between the theory of truth and metaphysics. Specifically, I argue that the theory of truth needs to be separated from the theory of truthmaking. In so doing, we can advance the current dialectic in the theory of truth (between correspondence theorists and deflationists) by showing how the motivations behind correspondence theory are better served by a theory of truthmaking. Accordingly, much of my research has divided into two strands: one investigating the nature of truth, and one investigating the nature of truthmaking.

Some of my current research explores the prospects for the empirical study of truth, and the role that truth does or doesn't play in ancient Chinese texts. I am currently collaborating on the Truth without Borders projects run out of the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

All of my published work can be found on my PhilPapers profile page. (At PhilPapers I also serve as an editor for the sections on Truthmakers and Primitivism about Truth.) My books, The Primitivist Theory of Truth, A Theory of Truthmaking, and Truthmaking were released by Cambridge University Press.

I also enjoy working with other philosophers and researchers. My current collaborators include Sam Baron at the Australian Catholic University, Seth Bordner at the University of Alabama, Max Deutsch at the University of Hong Kong, and Frank Saunders at Yonsei University.