on this page you will find some of my papers and such.
my research is on early-modern philosophy, especially seventeenth-century philosophy, and especially seventeenth-century metaphysics, and especially issues that cluster around
individuation of material objects or substances
composition and division, parts and wholes (what the kids would call 'mereological' issues)
metaphysics of modality (necessity, possibility, contingency) and
the history of modal logic
i'm also interested in early-modern women philosophers (thanks eileen!), late medieval philosophy, counter-reformation scholastic philosophy*, modal logic, mereology, metaphysical issues in works of fiction (e.g. the difference between fictional individuals and non-actual but possible individuals).
* i recently heard that 'baroque scholasticism' is the less provocative term now. eh.
here are some papers and such.
“Descartes on the Objective Reality of Materially False Ideas”
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 81 (2000), 385-408
“Descartes’ Creation Doctrine and Modality”
Australasian Journal of Philosophy 80 (2002), 24-4
“Infimus Gradus Libertatis? Descartes on Indifference and Divine Freedom”
Religious Studies 39 (2003), 391-406
“Divine Simplicity and the Eternal Truths in Descartes”
British Journal for the History of Philosophy 11 (2003), 553-579
“God’s Immutability and the Necessity of Descartes’ Eternal Truths”
Journal of the History of Philosophy 43 (2005), 1-19
“Locks, Schlocks, and Poisoned Peas: Boyle on Actual and Dispositive Qualities”
Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy 3 (2006), 153-198
“Locke on Individuation and the Corpuscular Basis of Kinds”
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 75 (2007), 499-534
“Descartes on Composites, Incomplete Substances, and Kinds of Unity”
Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, (2008), 39-73
“The Resurrection of the Same Body and the Ontological Status of Organisms: What
Locke Should Have (and Could Have) Told Stillingfleet”
Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy, David Owen, Paul Hoffman, and Gideon Yaffe (eds.), Broadview Press, (2008), 191-214
“Cartesian Substances, Individual Bodies, and Corruptibility”
Res Philosophica, Special Issue on Modern Philosophy (2014), 71-103.
“Locke's Theory of Identity”
A Companion to Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, M. Stuart (ed.) Blackwell Publishing (2016)
i edited The Routledge Companion to Seventeenth Century Philosophy (2018)
Here is what it looks like.
my research is on early-modern philosophy, especially seventeenth-century philosophy, and especially seventeenth-century metaphysics, and especially issues that cluster around
individuation of material objects or substances
composition and division, parts and wholes (what the kids would call 'mereological' issues)
metaphysics of modality (necessity, possibility, contingency) and
the history of modal logic
i'm also interested in early-modern women philosophers (thanks eileen!), late medieval philosophy, counter-reformation scholastic philosophy*, modal logic, mereology, metaphysical issues in works of fiction (e.g. the difference between fictional individuals and non-actual but possible individuals).
* i recently heard that 'baroque scholasticism' is the less provocative term now. eh.
here are some papers and such.
“Descartes on the Objective Reality of Materially False Ideas”
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 81 (2000), 385-408
“Descartes’ Creation Doctrine and Modality”
Australasian Journal of Philosophy 80 (2002), 24-4
“Infimus Gradus Libertatis? Descartes on Indifference and Divine Freedom”
Religious Studies 39 (2003), 391-406
“Divine Simplicity and the Eternal Truths in Descartes”
British Journal for the History of Philosophy 11 (2003), 553-579
“God’s Immutability and the Necessity of Descartes’ Eternal Truths”
Journal of the History of Philosophy 43 (2005), 1-19
“Locks, Schlocks, and Poisoned Peas: Boyle on Actual and Dispositive Qualities”
Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy 3 (2006), 153-198
“Locke on Individuation and the Corpuscular Basis of Kinds”
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 75 (2007), 499-534
“Descartes on Composites, Incomplete Substances, and Kinds of Unity”
Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, (2008), 39-73
“The Resurrection of the Same Body and the Ontological Status of Organisms: What
Locke Should Have (and Could Have) Told Stillingfleet”
Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy, David Owen, Paul Hoffman, and Gideon Yaffe (eds.), Broadview Press, (2008), 191-214
“Cartesian Substances, Individual Bodies, and Corruptibility”
Res Philosophica, Special Issue on Modern Philosophy (2014), 71-103.
“Locke's Theory of Identity”
A Companion to Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, M. Stuart (ed.) Blackwell Publishing (2016)
i edited The Routledge Companion to Seventeenth Century Philosophy (2018)
Here is what it looks like.
Some Works in Progress
"Hobbes and the Ship of Theseus" (needs a sexier title because this paper is crazy sexy)
"Leibniz's per se modalities (and why we should love them)"
"What the hell is going on with the modal square of opposition in the 'Port Royal Logic'?" (tentative title)
"'Prince of the Nullibists': Descartes, Location, and the Mind" with Mary Krizan
"Necessitarianism"
"What the hell is necessity per accidens?" (tentative title. or is it?)
"Hobbes and the Ship of Theseus" (needs a sexier title because this paper is crazy sexy)
"Leibniz's per se modalities (and why we should love them)"
"What the hell is going on with the modal square of opposition in the 'Port Royal Logic'?" (tentative title)
"'Prince of the Nullibists': Descartes, Location, and the Mind" with Mary Krizan
"Necessitarianism"
"What the hell is necessity per accidens?" (tentative title. or is it?)