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1An Argument for Mereological EssentialismDissertation, Brown University. 1992.If extended objects were just sums of unextended parts, no satisfactory theory of contact would be possible. So extended objects are not decomposable into sets of simples. The fact that extended things do not possess a single decomposition into a set of smallest, indivisible parts places important constraints upon the analysis of propositions involving mass terms. In particular, it rules out those which construe masses of matter as set-theoretical constructions out of the parts of things. Conseq…Read more
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85From Experience to ExperiencerIn Mark C. Baker & Stewart Goetz (eds.), The Soul Hypothesis: Investigations Into the Existence of the Soul, Continuum Press. pp. 168. 2010.
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205Dispatches from the Zombie WarsThe Times Literary Supplement (April 28). forthcoming.Review of Daniel Dennett's *Sweet Dreams* and Gregg Rosenberg's *A Place for Consciousness*
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151Personal identity and the survival of deathIn Jens Johansson Fred Feldman Ben Bradley (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Death, Oxford University Press. pp. 97. 2013.
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59Could Extended Objects Be Made Out of Simple Parts?Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 56 (1): 1-29. 1996.Let us say that an extended object is “composed wholly of simples” just in case it is an aggregate of absolutely unextended parts spread throughout an extended region—that is, just in case there is a set S such that: every member is a point-sized part of the object, and for every x, x is part of the object if and only if it has a part in common with some member of S. Could a truly extended substance be composed entirely of unextended parts? Reflection upon the fact that it must be at least possi…Read more
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15Oxford Studies in Metaphysics Volume 1 (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2004.Oxford Studies in Metaphysics is the forum for the best new work in this flourishing field. Much of the most interesting work in philosophy today is metaphysical in character: this new series will be a much-needed focus for it. OSM will offer a broad view of the subject, featuring not only the traditionally central topics such as existence, identity, modality, time, and causation, but also the rich clusters of metaphysical questions in neighbouring fields, such as philosophy of mind and philosop…Read more
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13God in an Open Universe (edited book)Pickwick Publications. 2011.Description: Since its inception, the discussion surrounding Open Theism has been dominated by polemics. On crucial philosophical issues, Openness proponents have largely been devoted to explicating the underlying framework and logical arguments supporting their perspective against competing theological and philosophical perspectives. As a result, very little constructive work has been done on the interconnections between Open Theism and the natural sciences. Given the central place of sciences …Read more
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16I. Merricks vs. HaskerIn Ken Perszyk (ed.), Molinism: The Contemporary Debate, Oxford University Press. pp. 78. 2011.
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192Temporal parts and supervenient causation: The incompatibility of two Humean doctrinesAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 76 (2). 1998.This Article does not have an abstract
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49Substance (review)Philosophical Review 108 (1): 118-122. 1999.This book addresses two basic questions: What is the proper philosophical analysis of the concept of substance? and What kinds of compound substances are there? The second question is mainly addressed by asking what relations among objects are necessary and sufficient for their coming to compose a larger whole. The first 72 pages of the book contain a short history of attempts to answer the first question, and a brief presentation of the analysis the authors defend at length in their earlier boo…Read more
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101Dualism in the Philosophy of MindIn John Corcoran (ed.), Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2nd edition, Macmillan. 2006.
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464Persistence and presentismPhilosophical Papers 25 (2): 115-126. 1996.The ‘friends of temporal parts’ and their opponents disagree about how things persist through time. The former, who hold what is sometimes called a ‘4D’ theory of persistence, typically claim that all objects that last for any period of time are spread out through time in the same way that spatially extended objects are spread out through space — a different part for each region that the object fills. David Lewis calls this manner of persisting ‘perdurance’. The opposing, ‘3D’ theory has it that…Read more
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1Chisholm and the Essences of EventsIn Lewis Edwin Hahn (ed.), The Philosophy of Roderick M. Chisholm, Open Court. pp. 73--100. 1997.
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8Oxford Studies in Metaphysics: Volume 4 (edited book)Oxford University Press UK. 2008.Oxford Studies in Metaphysics is the forum for the best new work in this flourishing field. Much of the most interesting work in philosophy today is metaphysical in character: this new series is a much-needed focus for it. OSM offers a broad view of the subject, featuring not only the traditionally central topics such as existence, identity, modality, time, and causation, but also the rich clusters of metaphysical questions in neighbouring fields, such as philosophy of mind and philosophy of sci…Read more
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187I—Dean Zimmerman: From Property Dualism to Substance DualismAristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 84 (1): 119-150. 2010.Property dualism is enjoying a slight resurgence in popularity, these days; substance dualism, not so much. But it is not as easy as one might think to be a property dualist and a substance materialist. The reasons for being a property dualist support the idea that some phenomenal properties (or qualia) are as fundamental as the most basic physical properties; but what material objects could be the bearers of the qualia? If even some qualia require an adverbial construal (if they are modificatio…Read more
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249God Inside Time and Before CreationIn Gregory E. Ganssle & David M. Woodruff (eds.), God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature, Oxford University Press. pp. 75--94. 2001.Many theists reject the notion that God’s eternity consists in his timelessness — i.e., in his lacking temporal extension and failing to possess properties at any times. Some of these “divine temporalists” hold that, for philosophical reasons, it is impossible to accept both the timelessness of God and the view that God knows what happens at different times and brings about events in time. 1 Many reject divine timelessness as a dubious import from Platonism with no biblical or theological warran…Read more
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173Two cartesian arguments for the simplicity of the soulAmerican Philosophical Quarterly 28 (3): 127-37. 1991.The most well-known arguments for the simplicity of the soul - i.e., for the thesis that the subject of psychological states must be an unextended substance -are based upon the logical possibility of disembodiment. Descartes introduced this sort of argument into modern philosophy, and a version of it has been defended recently by Richard Swinburne. Some of the underlying assumptions of both arguments are examined and defended, but a closer look reveals that each depends upon unjustified inferenc…Read more
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34Oxford Studies in Metaphysics:Volume 3: Volume 3 (edited book)Oxford University Press UK. 2007.Oxford Studies in Metaphysics is the forum for the best new work in this flourishing field. Much of the most interesting work in philosophy today is metaphysical in character: this new series is a much-needed focus for it. OSM offers a broad view of the subject, featuring not only the traditionally central topics such as existence, identity, modality, time, and causation, but also the rich clusters of metaphysical questions in neighbouring fields, such as philosophy of mind and philosophy of sci…Read more
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63Metaphysics: The Big Questions (edited book)Wiley-Blackwell. 1991.This volume provides a vital student resource: a collection of the essential classic and contemporary readings in metaphysics.
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159One really big liquid sphere: Reply to LewisAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 77 (2). 1999.This Article does not have an abstract
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12On the Logic of Intentional HelpFaith and Philosophy 13 (3): 402-404. 1996.In this note, we explore certain aspects of “the logic of helping”; offer an account of the metaphysics of helping God; and suggest a way in which God’s help differs from human help.
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1686Indivisible Parts and Extended ObjectsThe Monist 79 (1): 148-180. 1996.Physical boundaries and the earliest topologists. Topology has a relatively short history; but its 19th century roots are embedded in philosophical problems about the nature of extended substances and their boundaries which go back to Zeno and Aristotle. Although it seems that there have always been philosophers interested in these matters, questions about the boundaries of three-dimensional objects were closest to center stage during the later medieval and modern periods. Are the boundaries of …Read more
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851The privileged present : Defending an "a-theory" of timeIn Theodore Sider, John Hawthorne & Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), Contemporary debates in metaphysics, Blackwell. pp. 211--225. 2008.Uncorrected Proof; please cite published version.