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112Decoding the Brain: Neural Representation and the Limits of Multivariate Pattern Analysis in Cognitive NeuroscienceBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 2016.Since its introduction, multivariate pattern analysis, or ‘neural decoding’, has transformed the field of cognitive neuroscience. Underlying its influence is a crucial inference, which we call the decoder’s dictum: if information can be decoded from patterns of neural activity, then this provides strong evidence about what information those patterns represent. Although the dictum is a widely held and well-motivated principle in decoding research, it has received scant philosophical attention. We…Read more
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12Naturalism as a StanceIn Mario De Caro & David Macarthur (eds.), The Handbook of Liberal Naturalism, Routledge. pp. 190-202. 2022.
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32Making sense of HackingTransversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science 15 1-16. 2023.I argue a useful way to conceptualise all of Hacking’s work is through his styles project. This provides us with a simple structure to organise many of Hacking’s main texts and brings into sharp relief two of his major philosophical projects. The first is to explain the stability of science. The second is metaphilosophical: to understand why scientific activity gives rise to certain philosophical difficulties, for example realism disputes. In its most ambitious form, Hacking called his project P…Read more
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17Perspectival Realism by Michela Massimi (Oxford University Press, 2022). ISBN 978019755620 (review)Philosophy 99 (1): 123-127. 2024.Michela Massimi has written a book broad in scope and ambition but full of wonderful details. It moves from technical philosophical discussions of conditionals to detailed case studies of work in child literacy. From perspectival art to dark matter. From Borges to blown glass – and much else in between. It is impossible not to be impressed. Massimi's book is a detailed elaboration and defence of a position, perspectival realism, she has been developing over several years. Perspectival realism of…Read more
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119On the continuity of metaphysics with science: Some scepticism and some suggestionsMetaphilosophy 53 (2-3): 202-220. 2022.Metaphilosophy, Volume 53, Issue 2-3, Page 202-220, April 2022.
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67Neo-Carnapian MetaphysicsInternational Journal of Philosophical Studies 29 (3): 392-407. 2021.Any movement worth its salt has a creation myth. Analytic metaphysics is no exception. According to legend, it was born from the clash of two titans. On the one side, was the anti-metaphysical Logi...
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29Is ontic structural realism a viable form of naturalized metaphysics?Dissertatio 41 (S2): 78-93. 2015.Às vezes o naturalismo é apresentado como uma visão de mundo geral. Na maioria das vezes quando o naturalismo é assim apresentado, ele é identificado com o fisicalismo: a visão de que tudo é físico ou em algum sentido dependente do que é físico. Mas o fisicalismo enfrenta um problema muito sério e bastante conhecido, o dilema de Hempel. O problema pode ser colocado do seguinte modo: quando dizemos que tudo é físico, o que fazemos é utilizar o termo “físico” como é concebido pelo fisicalismo. Sig…Read more
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32The Double Lives of Objects: An Essay in the Metaphysics of the Ordinary World, by Thomas Sattig: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. xiv + 259, £40 (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 96 (4): 828-831. 2018.
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121Styles for philosophers of scienceStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 43 (4): 649-656. 2012.In this paper I discuss the bearing of Hacking’s ideas about Scientific Styles on traditional debates in the philosophy of science concerning rationality and realism. I argue that a kind of deflationary position with regard to realism debates is a natural consequence of Hacking’s claim that styles are self-authenticating. I then go on to argue, using an example of van Fraassen’s, that Hacking should allow a methodological role for realism debates and hence they are not idle, as he has claimed, a…Read more
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59Styles of thinking: The special issueStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 43 (4): 595-598. 2012.
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194Structural realism and DavidsonSynthese 162 (1). 2008.Structural realism is an attempt to balance the competing demands of the No Miracles Argument and the Pessimistic Meta-Induction. In this paper I trace the development of the structuralist idea through the work of one of its leading advocates, John Worrall. I suggest that properly thought through what the structuralist is offering or should be offering is not an account of how to divide up a theory into two parts—structure and ontology—but (perhaps surprisingly) a certain kind of theory of meani…Read more
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105Causal compatibilism -- what chance?Erkenntnis 63 (1): 119-132. 2005.Orthodox physicalism has a problem with mental causation. If physics is complete and mental events are not identical to physical events (as multiple-realisation arguments imply) it seems as though there is no causal work for the mental to do. This paper examines some recent attempts to overcome this problem by analysing causation in terms of counterfactuals or conditional probabilities. It is argued that these solutions cannot simultaneously capture the force of the completeness of physics and m…Read more
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256Naturalized MetaphysicsInternational Journal of Philosophical Studies 18 (5): 673-685. 2010.This Article does not have an abstract
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134Understanding NaturalismRoutledge. 2008.Many contemporary Anglo-American philosophers describe themselves as naturalists. But what do they mean by that term? Popular naturalist slogans like, "there is no first philosophy" or "philosophy is continuous with the natural sciences" are far from illuminating. "Understanding Naturalism" provides a clear and readable survey of the main strands in recent naturalist thought. The origin and development of naturalist ideas in epistemology, metaphysics and semantics is explained through the works …Read more
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Areas of Specialization
Metaphilosophy |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
19th Century Philosophy |