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118Future law: Prepunishment and the causal theory of verdictsNoûs 40 (1). 2006.The poster boy for my paper is the King's Messenger in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. Recall that since the White Queen lives backwards, her memory works forwards. She pities Alice who can only remember things after they happen. Alice asks which things the Queen remembers best: `Oh, things that happened the week after next,' the Queen replied in a careless tone. `For instance, . . . there's the King's Messenger. He's in prison now, being punished: and the trial doesn't even begin til…Read more
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82Fugu for LogiciansPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 92 (1): 131-144. 2014.What do you get when you cross a fallacy with a good argument? A fugu, that is, a valid argument that tempts you to reach its conclusion invalidly. You have yielded to the temptation more than you realize. If you are a teacher, you may have served many fugus. They arise systematically through several mechanisms. Fugus are interesting intermediate cases that shed light on the following issues: bare evidentialism, false pleasure, philosophy of education, and the ethics of argument. Normally, a fug…Read more
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8Dark MattersThe Philosophers' Magazine 56 42-46. 2012.Shadows haunt the world of common sense by being “out there” independently of whether anyone is looking. Yet they are confi ned to a single sense: sight. Like ghosts, shadows evade tactile corroboration. They do not obey the laws governing material things.
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70Direct Reference and Vague IdentityPhilosophical Topics 28 (1): 175--94. 2000.Todd’s quip absurdly implies he knew that 30 carats is the threshold for vulgarity. But most philosophers think stopping here misses the root of the joke. They think there is a more fundamental absurdity; that it is even possible for a single carat to make the difference between a vulgar ring and a non-vulgar ring. We epistemicists defend the possibility.
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94Dark MattersThe Philosophers' Magazine 56 (56): 42-46. 2012.Shadows haunt the world of common sense by being “out there” independently of whether anyone is looking. Yet they are confi ned to a single sense: sight. Like ghosts, shadows evade tactile corroboration. They do not obey the laws governing material things.
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Commercial Applications of SkepticismIn Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (ed.), Pyrrhonian skepticism, Oxford University Press. 2004.This essay argues that Pyrrhonian skeptics, including Fogelin, are conditional skeptics, and hence not really skeptics at all. Conditional skeptics refute themselves, for when they assert conditionals, they make assertions. Since these conditionals are philosophical in content, Pyrrhonians do not avoid all philosophical assertions as they claim to do.
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97Charity Implies Meta‐CharityPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 68 (2): 290-315. 2004.The principle of charity says that all agents are rational. The principle of meta‐charity says that all agents believe all agents are rational. My thesis is that the arguments which are used to support charity also support meta‐charity. Meta‐charity implies meta‐meta‐charity. By recursion, the principle of charity implies that it is common knowledge. But there appears to be intelligent, well‐informed disagreement with the principle of charity. So if the entailment thesis holds, opponents of the …Read more
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88If people never dreamed, would it make a difference to how they picture reality? Or themselves? Philosophers would certainly lose the most natural way of introducing skepticism. The Chinese Taoist, Chuang Tzu (369 B. C. - ?), dreamt he was a butterfly. When he awoke he wondered whether he was a man who dreamt he was butterfly or a butterfly now dreaming he is a man. Any experience can be explained as either a faithful representation of the world or as a mere figment of a sleeper's imagination.
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71Blanks: Signs of OmissionAmerican Philosophical Quarterly 36 (4). 1999.The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes -- ah, that is where the art resides." -- Artur Schabel..
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123Borderline Hermaphrodites: Higher-order Vagueness by ExampleMind 119 (474): 393-408. 2010.The Pyrrhonian sceptic Favorinus of Arelata personified indeterminacy, cultivating his (or her) borderline status to undermine dogmatism. Inspired by the techniques of Favorinus, I show, by example, that ‘vague’ has borderline cases. These concrete steps lead to a more abstract argument that ‘vague’ has borderline borderline cases and borderline borderline borderline cases. My specimens are intended supplement earlier non-constructive proofs of the vagueness of ‘vague’
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44An empathic theory of circularityAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 77 (4). 1999.This Article does not have an abstract
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34A Brief History of the Paradox: Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the MindOxford University Press USA. 2003.A Brief History of the Paradox is the first narrative history of paradoxes. Sorenson draws us deep inside the tangles of riddles, paradoxes and conundrums by answering the questions which are seemingly unanswerable. Can God create a stone too heavy for him to lift? Can time have a beginning? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Filled with illuminating anecdotes, A Brief History of the Paradox is vividly written and will appeal to anyone who finds trying to answer unanswerable questions a p…Read more
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101Spinning ShadowsPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 72 (2). 2006.If a spinning sphere casts a shadow, does the shadow also spin? This riddle is the point of departure for an investigation into the nature of shadow movement. A general theory of motion will encompass all moving things, not just physical objects. Ultimately, I argue that round shadows do indeed spin. Shadows are followers of the objects that cast them. Parts of the shadow correspond to parts of the leader, so motion of the caster's parts accounts for motions of the shadow's parts. I conclude wit…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophical Traditions |