-
766I am a lot of things: A pluralistic account of the SelfMetaphysica, An International Journal for Ontology and Metaphysics 15 (1): 113-127. 2014.When I say that I am a lot of things, I mean it literally and metaphysically speaking. The Self, or so I shall argue, is a plurality (notwithstanding the fact that ordinary language takes "the Self" to be a singular term – but, after all, language is only language). It is not a substance or a substratum, and it is not a collection or a bundle. The view I wish to advocate for is a kind of reductionism, in line with some – but not all – broadly Humean ideas. In short, I will defend the view there …Read more
-
979Photographic Representation and Depiction of Temporal ExtensionInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 55 (2): 194-213. 2012.The main task of this paper is to understand if and how static images like photographs can represent and/or depict temporal extension (duration). In order to do this, a detour will be necessary to understand some features of the nature of photographic representation and depiction in general. This important detour will enable us to see that photographs (can) have a narrative content, and that the skilled photographer can 'tell a story' in a very clear sense, as well as control and guide the atten…Read more
-
725Alethic modalities, temporal modalities, and representationKriterion - Journal of Philosophy 29 (1): 19-36. 2015.In this article, I am interested in four versions of what is often referred to as "the Humphrey objection". This objection was initially raised by Kripke against Lewis's modal counterpart theory, so this is where I will start the discussion. As we will see, there is a perfectly good answer to the objection. I will then examine other places where a similar objection can be raised: it can arise in the case of temporal counterpart theory (in fact, it can arise in the case of all kinds of counterpar…Read more
-
314Eternalist theories of persistence through time: Where the differences really lieAxiomathes 19 (1): 51-71. 2009.The eternalist endurantist and perdurantist theories of persistence through time come in various versions, namely the two versions of perdurantism: the worm view and the stage view , and the two versions of endurantism: indexicalism and adverbialism . Using as a starting point the instructive case of what is depicted by photographs, I will examine these four views, and compare them, with some interesting results. Notably, we will see that two traditional enemies—the perdurantist worm view and th…Read more
-
36Ben Blumson, Resemblance and Representation: An Essay in the Philosophy of Pictures, Cambridge: OpenBook Publishers, 2014, 206 pp., £17.95 , ISBN 9781783740727 (review)Dialectica 69 (2): 254-258. 2015.
-
988The Relationist and Substantivalist Theories of Time: Foes or Friends?European Journal of Philosophy 19 (4): 491-506. 2010.Abstract: There are two traditionally rival views about the nature of time: substantivalism that takes time to be a substance that exists independently of events located in it, and relationism that takes time to be constructed out of events. In this paper, first, I want to make some progress with respect to the debate between these two views, and I do this mainly by examining the strategies they use to face the possibilities of ‘empty time’ and ‘time without change’. As we shall see, the two all…Read more
-
906Primitiveness, Metaontology, and Explanatory PowerDialogue 52 (2): 341-358. 2013.Metaphysical theories heavily rely on the use of primitives to which they typically appeal. I will start by examining and evaluating some traditional well-known theories and I will discuss the role of primitives in metaphysical theories in general. I will then turn to a discussion of claims of between theories that, I think, depend on equivalences of primitives, and I will explore the nature of primitives. I will then claim that almost all explanatory power of metaphysical theories comes from th…Read more
-
161There are vague objects (in any sense in which there are ordinary objects)Studia Philosophica Estonica 1 (3): 1-4. 2008.Ordinary objects are vague, because either (i) composition is restricted, or (ii) there really are no such objects (but we still want to talk about them), or (iii) because such objects are not metaphysically (independently of us) distinguishable from other 'extra-ordinary' objects. In any sense in which there are ordinary objects, they are vague.
-
873Endurance, perdurance, and metaontologySATS (2): 159-177. 2011.The recent debate in metaontology gave rise to several types of (more or less classical) answers to questions about "equivalences" between metaphysical theories and to the question whether metaphysical disputes are substantive or merely verbal (i.e. various versions of realism, strong anti-realism, moderate anti-realism, or epistemicism). In this paper, I want to do two things. First, I shall have a close look at one metaphysical debate that has been the target and center of interest of many met…Read more
-
La théorie des faisceaux et la théorie des substrats1In Langlet B. Monnoyer J.-M. (ed.), Gustav Bergmann : Phenomenological Realism and Dialectical Ontology, Ontos Verlag. pp. 29--117. 2009.
-
98Endurance and time travelKriterion - Journal of Philosophy 24 (1): 65-72. 2011.Suppose that you travel back in time to talk to your younger self in order to tell her that she (you) should have done some things in her (your) life differently. Of course, you will not be able to make this plan work, we know that from the many versions of 'the grandfather paradox' that populate the philosophical literature about time travel. What will be my centre of interest in this paper is the conversation between you and ... you – i.e. the older you that travelled back in time and the youn…Read more
-
847What photographs are (and what they are not)Disputatio 4 (31). 2011.For the metaphysician, photographs are very puzzling entities indeed. And even from the non-philosopher's intuitive point of view, it is not that clear what sort of thing a photograph is. Typically, if a client wants to purchase a photograph, she can mean very different things by 'buying a photograph' : she can mean to buy a print or a number of prints, or she can mean to buy a negative (when traditional film photographs are concerned) or a file (when digital photography is concerned), or she ca…Read more
-
493A modal bundle theoryMetaphysica 7 (2). 2006.If ordinary particulars are bundles of properties, and if properties are said to be universals, then three well-known objections arise : no particular can change, all particulars have all of their properties essentially (even the most insignificant ones), and there cannot be two numerically distinct but qualitatively indiscernible particulars. In this paper, I try to make a little headway on these issues and see how the objections can be met, if one accepts a certain view about persistence throu…Read more
-
124The Limits of PhotographyInternational Journal of Philosophical Studies 22 (5): 716-733. 2014.This paper is about what counts as a photograph and what does not. One way in which this question arises stems from new technologies that keep changing our way of producing photographs, such as digital photography, which not only has now widely replaced traditional film photography but also challenges the very limits of what we count as a photograph. I shall discuss below at some length different aspects of digital photography, but also want to focus here on a new striking type of photographic c…Read more
-
140Metaphysical theories are beautiful. I mean it literally. At the end of this book, I defend the view that metaphysical theories possess aesthetic properties and that these play a crucial role when it comes to theory evaluation and theory choice. But this is the end of a long journey – a journey that is perhaps more important than the destination. Before we get there, the philosophical path I propose to follow starts with three discussions of metaphysical equivalence. I argue that there are cases…Read more
-
Université de FribourgRegular Faculty
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |
Aesthetics |
Philosophy of Mind |
Metaontology |
Metaphilosophy |