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155Appropriate emotions and the metaphysics of timePhilosophical Studies 175 (8): 1945-1961. 2018.Prior used our emotions to argue that tensed language cannot be translated by tenseless language. However, it is widely accepted that Mellor and MacBeath have shown that our emotions do not imply the existence of tensed facts. I criticise this orthodoxy. There is a natural and plausible view of the appropriateness of emotions which in combination with Prior’s argument implies the existence of tensed facts. The Mellor/MacBeath position does nothing to upset this natural view and therefore is not …Read more
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64Emergence, Dependence, and FundamentalityErkenntnis 83 (3): 391-402. 2018.In a recent paper Barnes proposes to characterize ontological emergence by identifying the emergent entities with those entities which are both fundamental and dependent. Barnes offers characterizations of the notions of fundamentality and dependence, but is cautious about committing to the specifics of these notions. This paper argues that Barnes’s characterization of emergence is problematic in several ways. Firstly, emergence is a relation, and merely delimiting relata of this relation tells …Read more
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49Tensed Emotions, Evolution, and TimePhilosophia 46 (2): 401-409. 2018.Prior showed that one could be relieved that the exams were over and not that they finished before a certain date or before a certain entity. One might think that these differences in relief are responsive to differences in the world so that there is more to the exams being over than them finishing before a certain date or entity: there is a metaphysical tense. However, some have argued that these issues do not have any implications for the metaphysics of time because they can be explained with …Read more
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48Grounding, Well-Foundedness, and Terminating ChainsPhilosophia 51 (3): 1539-1554. 2022.It has recently been argued that foundationalists, those who take grounding to be well-founded, should not understand the well-foundedness of grounding as the condition that every grounding chain terminates in the downward direction, because this interpretation of well-foundedness fails to correctly classify certain complex grounding structures. Some structures that plausibly would be acceptable to the foundationalist are classified as not well-founded and others that plausibly would not be acce…Read more
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43Acting for reasons and the metaphysics of timePhilosophical Studies 180 (1): 273-291. 2022.This paper concerns acting for reasons and how this can inform debates about the metaphysics of time. Storrs-Fox (2021) has argued against the A-theory of time on the grounds that it cannot adequately account for the explanation of actions. Storrs-Fox assumes that explanation is forever. He argues that this is incompatible with the A-theory because the reasons people act for are the explanantia of their actions, though according to the A-theory these reasons, that is facts, often do not obtain f…Read more
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29Rationality and the First PersonJournal of Consciousness Studies 22 (11-12): 132-148. 2015.In this paper, I will argue that a prominent theory of rationality could ground an argument for the existence of a self. Specifically, a self that is only captured in first- personal beliefs, and which is hence distinct from the physical body, in so far as the latter can be captured in third-personal beliefs. First-personal beliefs are beliefs characteristically expressed with first-personal utterances. Perry has argued that first- personal beliefs are necessary for certain actions. On closer ex…Read more
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20Rationality, Time, and SelfSpringer Verlag. 2018.This book provides a new argument for the tensed theory of time and emergentism about the self. This argument derives in part from theories which establish our nature as rational and emotional beings whose behavior is responsive to reasons which are facts. It is argued that there must be reasons, hence facts, that can only be captured by tensed and/or first-personal language if our behavior is to be by and large rational and appropriate. This establishes the tensed theory of time and emergentism…Read more
Olley Pearson
University of Lincoln
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University of LincolnLecturer
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Action |
Metaphysics and Epistemology |