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A neo-Calvinist sociology : John Carroll's metaphysical modernityIn Sara James (ed.), Metaphysical Sociology: On the Work of John Carroll, Routledge. 2018.
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15Introduction: Paradox and communicationEmpedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication 1 (2): 153-160. 2010.
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31‘I am not what I am’: Paradox and indirect communication – the case of the comic god and the dramaturgical selfEmpedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication 1 (2): 225-236. 2010.An exploration of the self in dramaturgical societies: This is the double, duplicitous, witty self, the one who communicates indirectly through characters and masks, the self who is a personality, who knowingly plays a role on the public stage, and who inhabits a wry, not to say awry, paradoxical world created by a mischievous comic God. A motley bunch of characters wander across the stage of this article. These include recusant Catholics, American sociologists, theologians of paradox, philosoph…Read more
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9Social phusis and the pattern of creationBudhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture 9 (1): 39-74. 2005.
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8Review of Descartes’s Method of Doubt, by Janet Broughton (review)Essays in Philosophy 10 (1): 139-143. 2009.
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90Painting’s double: Andrew Benjamin’s Disclosing SpacesThesis Eleven 104 (1): 108-113. 2011.Andrew Benjamin’s book Disclosing Spaces (2004) presents a theory of painting. The theory is developed via a meticulous analysis of a series of individual artworks. The pivot of Benjamin’s theory of painting is the idea of relationality. The theory is critically reviewed with reference to the works of Edward Hopper, Gerhard Richter and Jacques-Louis David
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54Nature's God: Emerson and the GreeksThesis Eleven 93 (1): 64-71. 2008.This article explores the mystical impulse in the American mind, reflected in the work of William James, Kenneth Burke, and most especially the case of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The parallels and differences between Emerson's mystical idea of Nature and the ancient Greek pre-Socratic idea of the universe as a union of opposites are explored. The divergence between the Americans and the Greeks concerning the idea of limits is reflected on. The optimism of the Americans is explained as a function of th…Read more
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37Knowledge CapitalismThesis Eleven 81 (1): 36-62. 2005.This article examines contemporary forms of capitalism that have the arts and the sciences as their basis. It highlights the role of civics in forging modes of intellectual capitalism, and the specific nature of their rationality and spatiality. The article discusses the role of creativity and designing intelligence in intellectual capital modes of production and the implications of this for their broader socio-economic constellations
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36Daniel Bell, conservativeThesis Eleven 118 (1): 72-82. 2013.Daniel Bell was one of the leading American sociologists in the 20th century, widely read both inside and outside the universities. He produced influential theses about the rise of post-industrial society and about the cultural contradictions of modern capitalism that saw it torn between restraint and hedonism. Bell was also notable for another reason. He was, most certainly on cultural matters, a conservative, and on a number of policy matters he was closely associated with the first generation…Read more
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124American CivilizationThesis Eleven 85 (1): 64-92. 2006.Autopoietic societies have produced three major images of civilization: the Greco-Roman, the Eurocentric Western, and the Settler Society type. The most important incarnation of the latter to date has been America. This article explores the deep-going differences between American and European ideas of civilization. It examines how the American kind of autopoietic civilization expresses itself in preternaturally distinctive conceptualizations of nature and freedom, life and death, order and chaos…Read more
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1Review of New Essays on Semantic Externalism and Self-Knowledge, ed. Susana Nuccetelli (review)Essays in Philosophy 7 (1): 118-121. 2006.
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176Review of Bryan Caplan, The Case Against Education (review)Metapsychology Online Reviews 23. 2019.
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13Review of “Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century, Vols. 1 & 2” (review)Essays in Philosophy 9 (1): 15. 2008.
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151Review of Sarah Conly, One Child: Do We Have a Right to More? (review)Metapsychology Online Reviews 1. 2016.
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139Review of Scott Soames, Philosophical Analysis in the 20th Century, Volumes 1 and 2 (review)Essays in Philosophy 9 (1): 189-191. 2008.
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Public Relations Guide for New Precrime OfficersIn D. E. Wittkower (ed.), Philip K. Dick and Philosophy. pp. 207-216. 2011.
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460So How Much Should I Give? Extending Class Coverage of SInger's Work on Poverty EthicsAPA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy 2 (14): 7-14. 2015.
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185Sensitivity Meets Explanation: An Improved Counterfactual Condition on KnowledgeIn Kelly Becker & Tim Black (eds.), The Sensitivity Principle in Epistemology, Cambridge University Press. pp. 26-40. 2012.
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273The Defect in Effective Skeptical ScenariosInternational Journal for the Study of Skepticism 3 (4): 271-281. 2013.What epistemic defect needs to show up in a skeptical scenario if it is to effectively target some belief? According to the false belief account, the targeted belief must be false in the skeptical scenario. According to the competing ignorance account, the targeted belief must fall short of being knowledge in the skeptical scenario. This paper argues for two claims. The first is that, contrary to what is often assumed, the ignorance account is superior to the false belief account. The second is …Read more
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18Review of Collins, Hall, and Paul, Causation and Counterfactuals (review)Metapsychology Online Reviews 2005. 2005.As you scroll through this review, you move your hand; this causes the mouse to move; in turn this causes, via a series of intermediary events, changes on your screen. A bit more reflection shows that this case is entirely mundane: causal relations are a ubiquitous feature of the physical world. Causal relations are also, according to many philosophers, at the center of phenomena like knowledge, perception, linguistic meaning, mental content, belief, free action, and right action. In fact, one i…Read more
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267Skeptical Effectiveness: A Reply to Buford and BruecknerInternational Journal for the Study of Skepticism 6 (4): 397-403. 2016.In an earlier paper, I presented a novel objection to closure-based skeptical arguments. There I argued that the best account of what makes skeptical scenarios effective cripples the closure-based skeptical arguments that use those scenarios. On behalf of the skeptic, Christopher Buford and Anthony Brueckner have replied to my objection. Here I review my original argument, criticize their replies, and highlight two important issues for further investigation.
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Value Theory |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |