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226The Relation Between General and Particular: Entailment vs. SupervenienceIn Dean Zimmerman (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, vol. 2, Oxford University Press. pp. 251-287. 2006.Some argue, following Bertrand Russell, that because general truths are not entailed by particular truths, general facts must be posited to exist in addition to particular facts. I argue on the contrary that because general truths (globally) supervene on particular truths, general facts are not needed in addition to particular facts; indeed, if one accepts the Humean denial of necessary connections between distinct existents, one can further conclude that there are no general facts. When entailm…Read more
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29Philosophical Perspectives on Newtonian Science (edited book)MIT Press. 1990.These original essays explore the philosophical implications of Newton's work.
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137McGinn on Non-Existent Objects and Reducing ModalityPhilosophical Studies 118 (3): 439-451. 2004.In this discussion of Colin McGinn's book, 'Logical Properties', I comment first on the chapter "Existence", then on the chapter "Modality." With respect to existence, I argue that McGinn's view that existence is a property that some objects have and other objects lack requires the property of existence to be fundamentally unlike ordinary qualitative properties. Moreover, it opens up a challenging skeptical problem: how do I know that I exist? With respect to modality, I argue that McGinn's argu…Read more
Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Mathematics |
Philosophy of Physical Science |