My primary research interests include the metaphysics of ordinary objects, parts and wholes, composition, modality, and fictionalism.
My monograph, Parts and Wholes, has just been published By Cambridge University Press as part of their Elements in Metaphysics series (June 2023).
Abstract. The Odd Universe Argument aims to show that from four intuitive assumptions about parts and wholes, we can conclude a priori that there is an odd number of things in the universe. This Element is an opinionated survey of philosophical issues involving parthood, composition, identity, and counting, guided by an investigation into where this argument has gone awry. We first walk through some general methodology, basic mereology, and plural logic. Next, we explore questions about the nature of composition and decomposition. Does composition always occur? Never? Sometimes? Is the universe, at rock bottom, just many partless bits (simples)? Or do the parts have parts all the way down (gunk)? We then turn to arguments for and against the thesis that composition is identity, with a healthy bias in its favor. We conclude with a return to the odd universe argument, and my thoughts on how best to solve it.
Published
Monograph – Book
2023 – Parts and Wholes – Elements in Metaphysics. Cambridge University Press.
Articles – Journal Entries
2022 – “Mental Fictionalism” (draft); T. Demeter, T. Parent, and A. Toon (eds.), Mental Fictionalism: Philosophical Explorations (Routledge) 2022
2022 – “Mental fictionalism – a foothold amid deflationary collapse ” (draft); T. Demeter, T. Parent, and A. Toon (eds.), Mental Fictionalism: Philosophical Explorations (Routledge) 2022
2021 – “The Polysemy of ‘part’” Synthese 198, 4331–4354 (2021); online 2019
2020 – “Counterexamples and Commonsense: When (Not) to Tollens a Ponens” Analysis 80(3): 544-558 (2020)
2019 – “The Lump Sum: A Theory of Modal Parts” Philosophical Papers (2019)
2018 – “The Haecceitic Euthyphro problem” co-authored with Jason Bowers, Analysis 78(1): 13-22 (2018)
2016 – “Saving Mental Fictionalism from Cognitive Collapse” in Res Philosophica 93(2): 405-424 (2016)
2015 – “Rearming the Slingshot?” Acta Analytica 30(3): 283-292 (2015)
2014 – “Composition as Identity, Mereological Essentialism, and Modal Parts” in Composition as Identity, eds. Donald Baxter and Aaron Cotnoir, OUP (2014)
2014 – “The Argument from Vagueness for Modal Parts” in dialectica vol. 68 (3): 355-373 (2014)
2013 – “Counterparts and Compositional Nihilism: A Reply to A. J. Cotnoir” in Thought: A Journal of Philosophy vol. 2 (3): 242-247 (2013)
2011 – “Composition as Identity: Part 1” in Philosophy Compass vol. 6(11): 804-816 (2011)
2011 – “Composition as Identity: Part 2 ” in Philosophy Compass vol. 6(11): 817-827 (2011)
Public Philosophy & Pedagogy
forth. – “Philosophy through Spectacle” for the Art of Teaching Philosophy. Bloomsbury Press. (Under contract; submitted)
2022 – “Circus and Philosophy: Teaching Aristotle Through Juggling” revised reprint in CircusTalk
2021 – “Circus and Philosophy: Teaching Aristotle Through Juggling” in Aesthetics for Birds
Under Contract – In Progress
- Transworld Objects: A Theory of Modal Parts – manuscript in progress
- “Transworld Persons” – in progress
- “Choose Your Own Essentia!” – in progress
- “In Defense of the Spectacle” – in progress