-
1760Causal and Moral IndeterminacyRatio 29 (4): 434-447. 2016.This paper argues that several sorts of metaphysical and semantic indeterminacy afflict the causal relation. If, as it is plausible to hold, there is a relationship between causation and moral responsibility, then indeterminacy in the causal relation results in indeterminacy of moral responsibility more generally.
-
468The Metaphysics of OmissionsPhilosophy Compass 10 (3): 208-218. 2015.Omissions – any events, actions, or things that do not occur – are central to numerous debates in causation and ethics. This article surveys views on what omissions are, whether they are causally efficacious, and how they ground moral responsibility.
-
2108Omissions as possibilitiesPhilosophical Studies 167 (1): 1-23. 2014.I present and develop the view that omissions are de re possibilities of actual events. Omissions do not literally fail to occur; rather, they possibly occur. An omission is a tripartite metaphysical entity composed of an actual event, a possible event, and a contextually specified counterpart relation between them. This view resolves ontological, causal, and semantic puzzles about omissions, and also accounts for important data about moral responsibility for outcomes resulting from omissions.
-
3546Time Travel and the Movable PresentIn John Christopher Adorno (ed.), Being, Freedom, and Method: Themes from the Philosophy of Peter van Inwagen, . pp. 80-94. 2017.In "Changing the Past" (2010), Peter van Inwagen argues that a time traveler can change the past without paradox in a growing block universe. After erasing the portion of past existence that generates paradox, a new, non-paradox-generating block can be "grown" after the temporal relocation of the time traveler. I articulate and explore the underlying mechanism of Van Inwagen's model: the time traveler's control over the location of the objective present. Van Inwagen's model is aimed at preventin…Read more
-
1804Causal IdealismIn K. Pearce & T. Goldschmidt (eds.), Idealism: New Essays in Metaphysics, Oxford University Press. 2017.This paper argues that causal idealism, the view that causation is a product of mental activity, should be considered a competetitor to contemporary views that incorporate human thought and agency into the causal relation. Weighing contextualism, contrastivism, or pragmatism about causation against causal idealism results in at least a tie with respect to the virtues of these theories.
-
-
University of California, Santa CruzProfessor
APA Western Division
Santa Cruz, California, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
1 more
| Metaphysics |
| Counterfactual Theories of Causation |
| Theories of Causation |
| Causation in the Law |
| Time Travel |
| Intersectionality |
Areas of Interest
| Moral Responsibility, Misc |
| Philosophy of Law |
| Feminist Philosophy |