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106Metaphysical Vagueness Without Vague ObjectsThought: A Journal of Philosophy 7 (4): 278-283. 2018.Elizabeth Barnes and Robert Williams have developed a theory of metaphysical indeterminacy, via which they defend the theoretical legitimacy of vague objects. In this paper, we argue that while the Barnes–Williams theory supplies a viable account of genuine metaphysical vagueness, it cannot underwrite an account of genuinely vague objects. First we clarify the distinction between these two key theses. Then we argue that the Barnes–Williams theory of metaphysical vagueness not only fails to deliv…Read more
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96What Love Is: And What It Could BeBasic Books. 2017.This book unpicks the conceptual, ideological, and metaphysical tangles that get in the way of understanding romantic love. Written for a general audience, What Love Is And What It Could Be explores different disciplinary perspectives on love, in search of the bigger picture. It presents a "dual-nature" theory: romantic love is simultaneously both a biological phenomenon and a social construct. The key philosophical insight comes in explaining why this a coherent—and indeed a necessary—position …Read more
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88Anti-realism and Epistemic AccessibilityPhilosophical Studies 132 (3): 525-551. 2007.I argue that Fitch’s ‘paradox of knowability’ presents no special problem for the epistemic anti-realist who believes that reality is epistemically accessible to us. For the claim which is the target of the argument (If p then it is possible to know p) is not a commitment of anti-realism. The epistemic anti-realist’s commitment is (or should be) to the recognizability of the states of affairs which render true propositions true, not to the knowability of the propositions themselves. A formal app…Read more
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65The Truth Fairy and the Indirect Epistemic ConsequentialistIn Peter Graham & Nikolaj Jang Lee Linding Pedersen (eds.), Epistemic Entitlement, Oxford University Press. pp. 344-360. 2020.Friends of Wright-entitlement cannot appeal to direct epistemic consequentialism (believe or accept what maximizes expected epistemic value) in order to account for the epistemic rationality of accepting Wright-entitled propositions. The tenability of direct consequentialism is undermined by the “Truth Fairy”: a powerful being who offers you great epistemic reward (in terms of true beliefs) if you accept a proposition p for which you have evidence neither for nor against. However, this chapter a…Read more
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64Truth in Virtue of Meaning, by Gillian Russell (review)Mind 119 (473): 232-238. 2010.(No abstract is available for this citation)
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59The mystery of the disappearing diamondIn Joe Salerno (ed.), New Essays on the Knowability Paradox, Oxford University Press. pp. 302--319. 2009.Addresses the question of why we find Fitch's knowability 'paradox' argument surprising.
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48The importance of being designated: a comment on Caret and CotnoirAnalysis 68 (3): 244-247. 2008.No Abstract
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47Nonmonogamy and HappinessThornapple Press. 2023.An exploration of the search for meaning in nonmonogamous relationships.
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43'Addicted'? To 'Love'?Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 24 (1): 93-96. 2017.Earp et al. offer a very interesting summary of, and ethical commentary on, recent multidisciplinary research suggesting that at least some cases of what we call ‘romantic love’ involve phenomena that physically and/or psychologically resemble cases of what we call ‘addiction.’ They draw a conceptual distinction between what they call ‘narrow’ and ‘broad’ concepts of addiction. On the narrow conception, only extreme, harmful, or abnormal cases of love would count as addiction. On the broad conce…Read more
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41Knowing Our Own Hearts: Self‐Reporting and the Science of LovePhilosophical Issues 26 (1): 226-242. 2016.
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28Sad love: romance and the search for meaningPolity Press. 2022.Love is most often associated with happiness, satisfaction and pleasure. But it has a darker side we ignore at our peril. Love is often an uncomfortable and difficult feeling. The people we love can let us down badly. And the ways we love are often quite different to the romantic ideals society foists upon us. Since we are inevitably disappointed by love, wouldn't we be better off without it? No, says Carrie Jenkins. Instead, we need a new philosophy of love, one that recognizes that the pain an…Read more
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25Intuition, ‘Intuition’, Concepts and the A PrioriIn Booth Anthony Robert & P. Rowbottom Darrell (eds.), Intuitions, Oxford University Press. 2014.This chapter attempts to put structure on some of the different philosophical uses of ‘intuition’. It argues that ‘intuition’-hood is associated with four bundles of symptoms: a commonsensicality bundle; an a prioricity and immediacy bundle, and a metaphilosophical bundle. Tentatively suggesting that the word ‘intuition’ as used by philosophers is best regarded as ambiguous, the chapter offers a much simpler view concerning the meaning of ‘intuition’ in philosophy. With some of the attacks on ‘i…Read more
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22A PrioriIn Albert Casullo & Joshua C. Thurow (eds.), The a Priori in Philosophy, Oxford University Press. pp. 274. 2013.
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9Uninvited: Talking Back to PlatoMcGill-Queen's University Press. 2020.Plato's Symposium depicts a group of men giving a series of speeches about the nature of love, with themes ranging from religion and metaphysics to medicine and pregnancy. The lone woman in the room, a "flute girl," is sent away as the discussion turns to serious matters; at the same time, the wisest of the men attributes his theories to a woman, the possibly fictional Diotima. Despite their absence from this important intellectual exchange, women are part of Symposium. What can contemporary fem…Read more
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6Epistemological NaturalismsIn Kelly James Clark (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Naturalism, Wiley. 2016.Epistemological naturalism has often been taken to be inimical to a priori knowledge, armchair knowledge, and epistemic normativity. This chapter argues that the relationship between epistemological naturalism and these other commitments is in fact considerably subtler than it is widely assumed to be. The chapter begins with a brief classificatory sketch of different kinds of naturalism, then focuses on forms of naturalism that have been especially significant in epistemology. Finally, one form …Read more
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Naturalistic challenges to the a prioriIn Albert Casullo & Joshua C. Thurow (eds.), The a Priori in Philosophy, Oxford University Press Uk. 2013.
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