University of Notre Dame
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 1994
San Diego, California, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
17th/18th Century Philosophy
Areas of Interest
17th/18th Century Philosophy
PhilPapers Editorships
Kant: Causation
  •  314
    Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources (edited book)
    Hackett Pub. Co.. 2009.
    The leading anthology of its kind, this volume provides the key works of seven major philosophers, along with a rich selection of associated texts by other ...
  •  307
    Kant’s Account of Cognition
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 55 (1): 83-112. 2017.
    kant’s critique of pure reason undertakes a systematic investigation of the possibility of synthetic cognition a priori so as to determine whether this kind of cognition is possible in the case of traditional metaphysics.1 While much scholarly attention has been devoted to the distinction between analytic and synthetic judgments as well as to that between the a priori and the a posteriori, less attention has been devoted to understanding exactly what cognition is for Kant. In particular, it is o…Read more
  •  278
    Kant's model of causality: Causal powers, laws, and Kant's reply to Hume
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 42 (4): 449-488. 2004.
    : This paper argues that Kant's model of causality cannot consist in one temporally determinate event causing another, as Hume had thought, since such a model is inconsistent with mutual interaction, to which Kant is committed in the Third Analogy. Rather causality occurs when one substance actively exercises its causal powers according to the unchanging grounds that constitute its nature so as to determine a change of state of another substance. Because this model invokes unchanging grounds, on…Read more
  •  178
    What is, for Kant, a Law of Nature?
    Kant Studien 105 (4): 471-490. 2014.
    Name der Zeitschrift: Kant-Studien Jahrgang: 105 Heft: 4 Seiten: 471-490
  •  167
    Kant and the myth of the given
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 51 (5). 2008.
    Sellars and McDowell, among others, attribute a prominent role to the Myth of the Given. In this paper, I suggest that they have in mind two different versions of the Myth of the Given and I argue that Kant is not the target of one version and, though explicitly under attack from the other, has resources sufficient to mount a satisfactory response. What is essential to this response is a proper understanding of (empirical) concepts as involving unifying functions that can take sensations as inpu…Read more
  •  162
    : In a short and much-neglected passage in the second Critique, Kant discusses the threat posed to human freedom by theological determinism. In this paper we present an interpretation of Kant’s conception of and response to this threat. Regarding his conception, we argue that he addresses two versions of the threat: either God causes appearances directly or he does so indirectly by causing things in themselves which in turn cause appearances. Kant’s response to the first version is that God cann…Read more
  •  146
    Kant on cognition and knowledge
    Synthese 197 (8): 3195-3213. 2020.
    Even though Kant’s theory of cognition (Erkenntnis) is central to his Critique of Pure Reason, it has rarely been asked what exactly Kant means by the term “cognition”. Against the widespread assumption that cognition (in the most relevant sense of that term) can be identified with knowledge or if not, that knowledge is at least a species of cognition, we argue that the concepts of cognition and knowledge in Kant are not only distinct, but even disjunct. To show this, we first (I) investigate Ka…Read more
  •  108
    The Argumentative Structure of Kant's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 36 (4): 567-593. 1998.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Argumentative Structure of Kant’s Metaphysical Foundations Of Natural ScienceEric Watkinsone of kant’s most fundamental aims is to justify Newtonian science. However, providing a detailed explanation of even the main structure of his argument (not to mention the specific arguments that fill out this structure) is not a trivial enterprise. While it is clear that Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1781), his Metaphysical Foundations o…Read more
  •  103
    Kant’s Third Analogy of Experience
    Kant Studien 88 (4): 406-441. 1997.
    The main topic of the following dissertation is Kant's Third Analogy of Experience, which asserts that one must posit a bond of mutual interaction in order to judge that two substances exist simultaneously. Part One considers the Third Analogy proper and reconstructs two plausible arguments for its main claim. Contrary to the view of most commentators , Kant is entitled to a strong causal notion of mutual interaction. Part Two considers the historical debate between proponents of Pre-established…Read more
  •  100
    This paper argues that, despite appearances to the contrary, Kant and contemporary analytic metaphysicians are interested in the same kind of metaphysical dependence relation that finds application in a range of contexts and that is today commonly referred to as grounding. It also argues that comparing and contrasting Kant’s and contemporary metaphysicians’ accounts of this relation proves useful for both Kant scholarship and for contemporary metaphysics. The analyses provided by contemporary me…Read more
  •  93
    Kant on the Hiddenness of God
    Kantian Review 14 (1): 81-122. 2009.
    Kant's sustained reflections on God have received considerable scholarly attention over the years and rightly so. His provocative criticisms of the three traditional theoretical proofs of the existence of God, and his own positive proof for belief in God's existence on moral grounds, have fully deserved the clarification and analysis that has occurred in these discussions. What I want to focus on, however, is the extent to which Kant's position contains resources sufficient to answer a line of q…Read more
  •  92
    The Laws of Motion from Newton to Kant
    Perspectives on Science 5 (3): 311-348. 1997.
    It is often claimed (most recently by Michael Friedman) that Kant intended to justify Newton’s most fundamental claims expressed in the Principia, such as his laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. In this article, I argue that the differences between Newton’s laws of motion and Kant’s laws of mechanics are not superficial or merely apparent. Rather, they reflect fundamental differences in their respective projects. This point can be seen especially clearly by considering the natur…Read more
  •  88
    Kant’s Theory of Physical Influx
    Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 77 (3): 285-324. 1995.
  •  77
    Name der Zeitschrift: Kant Yearbook Jahrgang: 8 Heft: 1 Seiten: 117-142.
  •  77
    Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: Background Source Materials (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2009.
    This volume provides English translations of texts that form the essential background to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Presenting the projects of Kant's predecessors and contemporaries in eighteenth-century Germany, it enables readers to understand the positions that Kant might have identified with 'pure reason', the criticisms of pure reason that had developed prior to Kant's, and alternative attempts at synthesizing empiricist elements within a rationalist framework. The volume contains chap…Read more
  •  75
    Kant's Philosophy of Science
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2023.
  •  71
    Kant and the Metaphysics of Causality
    Cambridge University Press. 2004.
    This is a book about Kant's views on causality as understood in their proper historical context. Specifically, Eric Watkins argues that a grasp of Leibnizian and anti-Leibnizian thought in eighteenth-century Germany helps one to see how the critical Kant argued for causal principles that have both metaphysical and epistemological elements. On this reading Kant's model of causality does not consist of events, but rather of substances endowed with causal powers that are exercised according to thei…Read more
  •  70
    Forces and causes in Kant’s early pre-Critical writings
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 34 (1): 5-27. 2003.
    This paper considers Kant’s conception of force and causality in his early pre-Critical writings, arguing that this conception is best understood by way of contrast with his immediate predecessors, such as Christian Wolff, Alexander Baumgarten, Georg Friedrich Meier, Martin Knutzen, and Christian August Crusius, and in terms of the scientific context of natural philosophy at the time. Accordingly, in the True estimation Kant conceives of force in terms of activity rather than in terms of specifi…Read more
  •  68
    Kants Übergangskonzeption im ‘Opus Postumum’, by Dina Emundts (review)
    European Journal of Philosophy 16 (2): 332-336. 2008.
    No Abstract
  •  68
    Kant and the Sciences (edited book)
    Oxford University Press. 2001.
    Kant and the Sciences aims to reveal the deep unity of Kant's conception of science as it bears on the particular sciences of his day and on his conception of ...
  •  64
    The Development of Physical Influx In Early Eighteenth-Century Germany
    Review of Metaphysics 49 (2): 295-339. 1995.
    Before the story can be told, however, some stage-setting is necessary. First, it is important to be clear about the most basic doctrines of Pre-established Harmony, Occasionalism, and Physical Influx. Physical Influx asserts intersubstantial causation amongst finite substances. For instance, when I appear to kick a ball, I really am the cause of the ball's motion. Pre-established Harmony denies intersubstantial causation, but affirms intrasubstantial causation. According to Pre-established Harm…Read more