•  373
    Theories of Properties and Ontological Theory-Choice: An Essay in Metaontology
    Dissertation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2016.
    This dissertation argues that we have no good reason to accept any one theory of properties as correct. To show this, I present three possible bases for theory-choice in the properties debate: coherence, explanatory adequacy, and explanatory value. Then I argue that none of these bases resolve the underdetermination of our choice between theories of properties. First, I argue considerations about coherence cannot resolve the underdetermination, because no traditional theory of properties is obvi…Read more
  •  48
    Lewis, Wilson, Hume: A Response to Jessica Wilson on Lewisian Plenitude and Hume’s Dictum
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 59 (3): 295-317. 2016.
    According to David Lewis’s Modal Realism, other possible worlds really exist as concrete, spatiotemporal systems, and every way that a world could be is a way that some world is. To establish this plenitude of concrete possible worlds, Lewis presents his ‘principle of recombination,’ which is meant to guarantee that there exists a possible world, or part of a possible world, for every possibility. Jessica Wilson has recently argued that Lewis’s principle of recombination fails to generate enough…Read more