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If P then Q Conditionals and the Foundations of ReasoningBehavior and Philosophy 19 (2): 103-107. 1991.
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36. Self-Deception as RationalizationIn Brian P. McLaughlin & Amélie Oksenberg Rorty (eds.), Perspectives on Self-Deception, University of California Press. pp. 157-169. 1988.
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126Distinctness and non-identityAnalysis 65 (4). 2005.The following statement (A) is usually abbreviated with symbols: (A) There are items X and Y, each is F, X is not identical to Y, and everything F is identical to X or is identical to Y. (A) is neither necessary nor sufficient for the existence of exactly two distinct things that are F. Some things are neither identical nor distinct. The difference between distinctness and nonidentity makes a difference in asking questions about counting, constitution, and persistence.
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20From Folk Psychology to Cognitive Science: The Case Against BeliefPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 47 (1): 149-154. 1986.
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12Demons, Dreamers, and Madmen: The Defense of Reason in Descartes's MeditationsPhilosophical Review 82 (1): 120. 1973.
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43Resemblance and Identity: An Examination of the Problem of Universals (review)Philosophical Review 77 (3): 386-389. 1968.
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5How Plausible is the Principle of Plenitude?Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 59 (2): 149. 1978.The cardinality of incompatible possibilities whose actuality requires at least N seconds exceeds the cardinality of disjoint intervals at least N seconds long. Therefore, not all logical possibilities can be actual in the long run, even if the long run is infinite.
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11Varieties of Things: Foundations of Contemporary Metaphysics ‐ By Cynthia Macdonald (review)Philosophical Books 48 (1): 81-82. 2007.
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17Difficulties for the Reconciling and Estranging Projects: Some SymmetriesPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (1): 240-244. 2007.Suppose that Susan did not go to the movies. The reconciling project attempts to show that this plus Determinism does not imply that Susan could not have gone to the movies. The estranging project attempts to show the opposite. A counter‐entailment argument is of the form A is consistent with C, and C entails not‐B, therefore A does not entail B. An instance of the counter‐entailment arguments undermines a central argument for the reconciling project. Another instance undermines a central argume…Read more
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1Infinite regress argumentsIn James H. Fetzer (ed.), Principles of philosophical reasoning, Rowman & Allanheld. pp. 93--117. 1984.
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4Chisholm on Brentano's thesisIn Lewis Edwin Hahn (ed.), The Philosophy of Roderick M. Chisholm, Open Court. pp. 25--201. 1997.Roderick Chisholm provides, in different places, two formulations of Brentano's thesis about the relation between the psychological and the intentional: (1) all and only psychological sentences are intentional; (2) no psychological intentional sentence is equivalent to a nonintentional sentence. Chisholm also presents several definitions of intentionality. Some of these allow that a sentence is intentional while its negation is nonintentional, which ruins the prospects of defending the more plau…Read more
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1Where was I?In Douglas R. Hofstadter & Daniel Clement Dennett (eds.), The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul, Basic Books. pp. 232-40. 1981.This piece continues the story line of “Where Am I?” by Dan Dennett. I am inclined to locate myself at the location of my point of view. In my fantasy stories, points of view can be far away from a brain inside a flesh-and-blood body. Points of view can also move discontinuously from one location to another.
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52Causation and IntelligibilityPhilosophy 69 (267). 1994.Hume, in "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", holds (1) that all causal reasoning is based on experience and (2) that causal reasoning is based on nothing but experience. (1) does not imply (2), and Hume's good reasons for (1) are not good reasons for (2). This essay accepts (1) and argues against (2). A priori reasoning plays a role in causal inference. Familiar examples from Hume and from classroom examples of sudden disappearances and radical changes do not show otherwise. A priori ca…Read more
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