CV
Education
Ph.D., Philosophy, Jesus College,
Cambridge, 1991
B.A., Philosophy, Churchill College,
Cambridge, 1987
Appointments
Cambridge, Junior
Research Fellow + 1 year temporary lecturer, Pembroke College, 1992-1996
York University,
Lecturer in Philosophy, 1996-2000
Leeds University,
Lecturer in Philosophy, 2000-2005
Leeds University, Reader in Philosophy, 2006-2009.
Fixed Term Departmental Lecturer in Philosophy, New College Oxford, begins Autumn, 2010
Areas of Specialisation
Metaphysics,
Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophical Logic, Philosophy of
Physics.
Areas of Competence
Philosophy of
Mind, Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Philosophy of Language
Teaching Experience
Cambridge University
1992-3
Lecture courses: ‘Possible Worlds and Modal Logic’ for parts IB
and II Philosophical Logic; ‘Properties, States of Affairs and
Propositions’ for parts IB and II Metaphysics; ‘Space and Time’
for part II Metaphysics and Philosophy of Science; ‘Philosophy of
Mathematics’ for part II Philosophical Logic and part II
Mathematical Logic.Supervisions: Supervised second and third years in
philosophical logic, mathematical logic, metaphysics, philosophy of
science and philosophy of mind. Seminars: Ran a series of seminars
for graduates on Metaphysics and Logic. Director of Studies in
Philosophy for Jesus, Downing and Lucy Cavendish colleges.
1993-6
Lecture Courses: ‘Possible Worlds and Modal Logic’ for parts IB
and II Philosophical logic; ‘Abstract Objects’ for part II
Philosophical logic and Mathematical logic; ‘Things, Properties and
Universals’ for 1A Metaphysics.Philosophy Supervisions: Supervised
first, second and third year philosophy students in philosophical
logic, mathematical logic, metaphysics, philosophy of science and
philosophy of mind. Mathematics Supervisions: Supervised third year
mathematicians in part II Computation and Logic.Director of Studies
in Philosophy for Girton (1994-5)Summer Schools: Taught a course
entitled ‘Minds, Brains and Computers’ for Americans visiting a
Summer School program me at Pembroke (1996)
University of York
1996-2000
Philosophy Lecture Courses: ‘Reason and Argument I and II’,
introductory and advanced logic courses for first years; ‘Philosophy
of Mind’ for second and third years; ‘Philosophy of Science’
for second and third years; ‘Philosophy of Physics’ for second
and third years; ‘Philosophy of Mathematics’ for second and third
years.Interdisciplinary Courses: Along with Richard Keesing of the
physics department, we set up a programme for students studying
Physics with Philosophy.
University of Leeds
2001-2009,
Undergraduate Lecture Courses: Introduction to
Epistemology; Philosophy of Physics; Realism and the Metaphysics of
Science; Philosophy of Science 2B; Formal Logic. Graduate MA Courses:
Ontology; Modality, Philosophy of Physics. Have supervised several students to PhD.
Publications
You can download some of these papers on my Philosophical Papers page.
‘Anti-Realism Untouched’ Mind, vol 100, 341-2, , 1991.
‘On An Alleged
Disanlogy Between Numbers and Propositions’ Analysis, vol
52, 46-8, 1992
‘Against Modalism’ Philosophical Studies, vol 68, 35-56,
1992
‘A Note on Lewis’ Ontology’ Analysis, vol 52, 191-2,
1992.
‘A Galois
Connection Approach to Superposition and Inaccessibility’ (with
Jeremy Butterfield) International Journal of Theoretical Physics,
1993
‘The
Significance of non-standard Models’ Analysis, vol 55,
pp127-34, 1995.
‘On What There’s Not’ Analysis, vol 55, pp. 223-9, 1995
‘Against
Taylor’s Putnam’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy, vol
74, pp 171-4, 1996
‘Field’s Programme: Some Interference’ Analysis, vol 58,
pp. 63-71, 1998
‘Possible
Worlds’ Entry in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ed.
Edward Craig, 1998
‘No Local
Extension to the Quantum Formalism’ (with Micheal Redhead) Journal
of Mathematical Physics, vol 40, pp.4290-5, 1999
‘Holes, Haecceitism and Two Conceptions of Determinism’ British Journal
for the Philosophy of Science, vol 50, pp639-64, 1999
‘Weaseling Away
the Indispensability Argument’ Mind, 109, pp. 455-479 2000
‘Continuants and
Occurrents’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society,
supplementary volume, 2000
‘Reducing Possibilities to Language’ Analysis,
61, pp. 19-29, 2001
‘Response to Colyvan’, Mind, 111, 2002
‘The Analytic
Limit of Genuine Modal Realism’ (with John Divers), Mind,
111, pp. 15-36, 2002
‘Genuine Modal
Realism Limited: A response to Bremer’ (with John Divers), Mind,
112, pp 83-6, 2003
Modality (Acumen, 2003)
‘Counterpart
Theory’ Entry in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ed
Edward Craig, 2004.
‘Truthmaking
without Truthmakers’ in Truthmakers : the Contemporary Debate
(Oxford, Clarendon Press) ed. Helen Beebee and Julian Dodd
‘Ramseyfication and Theoretical Content’, (with Juha Saatsi),
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 57, pp.
587-621, 2006.
‘The Conservativeness of Mathematics’, Analysis, 66, pp.
202-8, 2006.
‘Genuine Modal Realism Limited Still: A Response to Paseau’ (with John Divers)
Mind, 2006.
‘Ersatz Possible
Worlds’ in Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics, ed.
John Hawthorne, Ted Sider and Dean Zimmerman, 2007.
‘Endurantism and
Timeless Worlds’ (with Nikk Effingham),
Analysis, 67, pp.140-147, 2007.
‘A World of Concrete Particulars’, forthcoming in Oxford Studies in
Metaphysics, ed Dean Zimmerman.
Invited Conference Presentations
Continuants and
Occurrents, Aristotelian Society, Sheffield, 2000. This is
Britain’s main Philosophy conference.
Indeterminate
Objects, Syracuse, 2002, a Major American Metaphysics conference
run by Hawthorne, Sider and Zimmerman.
A Defence of
Modalism, Auxerre, 2004; An International Conference on the
truthmaker principle, containing David Armstrong
Response to
Delia Graff Fara’s ‘Counterparts within Actuality, Online
Philosophy Conference 2, 2007
Response to
Sider’s ‘Ontological Realism’, 41st Chapel Hill
Philosophy Colloquium, North Carolina, 2007.
Work in Progress
‘A Defence of Modalism’
‘The Analysis of Logical Consequence’
‘Lewis on the Contingent Properties of Properties’ (with my
graduate student, Duncan Watson)
‘Space-time and Substantivalism’
‘Actuality and Counterpart theory – reply to Williamson and Fara’
Presentations
Linguistic Ersatzism, Moral Science Club, Cambrdige, 1994
Non-Standard Models, Sheffield, Leeds, 1994
On What There’s Not, UCL, 1996
Indispensability Arguments, Moral Science Club, Cambridge,
1997
Continuants and Occurrents,
Aristotelian Society, Sheffield, 2000
Tarksi and Logical Consequence Sheffield 2002
Worlds in the Everett Interpretation, Oxford, 2002
Response to Blanchette, Syracuse, 2002
Truthmaking
Without Truthmakers, invited paper at a Conference on Truthmaking
in Manchester, 2002
Nominalism for
Ostriches, Bristol, Glasgow 2003
A Defence of Modalism Auxerre, 2004
Truthmaking and
Modalism, Leeds CMM workshop and St Andrews’ Arche Workshop,
September, 2004
Ramseyfication
and Theoretical Content, Glasgow, Manchester, 2005
Responses to my Work
Mind has
published work by Colyvan (Aus) (Mind
2002 111: 69-74) and Baker (USA) (Mind 2005 114 (454):
223-238) plus my replies, discussing my work on Weaseling Away the
Indispensability Argument
Mind has
published work by Bremner (Ger) (Mind 2003, 112: 79-82) and
Paseau (UK) (Mind, forthcoming) plus responses by me and John Divers
on our The Analytic Limits of Genuine Modal Realism
Referee Work
For Oxford University Press, Mind, British Journal for the
Philosophy of Science, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research,
Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Synthese, Philosophical Studies
Professional Organisations
Peer review college assessor for AHRC 2005-9
Analysis Committee Member