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121(Once again) Lewis on the analysis of modalitySynthese 197 (11): 4645-4668. 2020.We propose a novel interpretation of Lewis on the analysis of modality that is constructed from primary sources, comprehensive and unprecedented. Our guiding precepts are to distinguish semantics from metaphysics, while respecting the inter-relations between them, and to discern whatever may be special, semantically or metaphysically, about the modal case. Following detailed presentation, we amplify and advocate our interpretation by providing a conforming genealogy of Lewis’s theory of modality…Read more
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240Manifesting belief in absolute necessityPhilosophical Studies 158 (1): 109-130. 2012.McFetridge (in Logical necessity and other essays . London: Blackwell, 1990 ) suggests that to treat a proposition as logically necessary—to believe a proposition logically necessary, and to manifest that belief—is a matter of preparedness to deploy that proposition as a premise in reasoning from any supposition. We consider whether a suggestion in that spirit can be generalized to cover all cases of absolute necessity, both logical and non-logical, and we conclude that it can. In Sect. 2, we ex…Read more
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17Nature of Contingency: Quantum Physics as Modal Realism, by Alastair Wilson (review)Mind 131 (524): 1357-1364. 2021.The interpretation of quantum mechanics due to Everett (1957) postulates the existence of many worlds. The analysis of modality due to Lewis (1986) is supported.
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On some arguments for the necessity and irreducibility of necessityIn Ivette Fred Rivera & Jessica Leech (eds.), Being Necessary: Themes of Ontology and Modality from the Work of Bob Hale., Oxford University Press. 2018.
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Modal anti-realismIn Otávio Bueno & Scott A. Shalkowski (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Modality, Routledge. 2018.
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38Philosophical Issues from Kripke’s ‘Semantical Considerations on Modal Logic’Principia: An International Journal of Epistemology 20 (1): 1-44. 2016.Kripke; possible-world semantics; pure and applied semantics; models of modal space; applicability.
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128Minimalism and the unbearable lightness of beingPhilosophical Papers 24 (2): 127-139. 1995.No abstract
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37Recent Work On Supervenience (review)Philosophical Books 39 (2): 81-91. 1998.At the core of the concept of supervenience are certain general maxims— notably, that there can be no A-differences without B-differences and that Bindiscernibility must bring A-discernibility. Supervenience is thus conceived as a matter of modal covariance between two sets of things in a given category, usually properties. The perennial issues surrounding supervenience concern: (a) the variety of specifically formulated theses that serve the core maxims and the patterns of entailment that obtai…Read more
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43_ The Nature of Contingency _: _ Quantum Physics as Modal Realism _, by AlastairWilson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. xi + 219.
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The modal metaphysics of Alvin PlantingaIn Deane-Peter Baker (ed.), Alvin Plantinga, Cambridge University Press. 2007.
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196W(h)ither Metaphysical Necessity?Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 92 (1): 1-25. 2018.I argue that a pragmatic scepticism about metaphysical modality is a perfectly reasonable position to maintain. I then illustrate the difficulties and limitations associated with some strategies for defeating such scepticism. These strategies appeal to associations between metaphysical modality and the following: objective probability, counterfactuals and distinctive explanatory value.
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25Review of Hallvard Lillehammer (eds.), Gonzalo Rodriguez-pereyra (eds.), Real Metaphysics: Essays in Honour of D. H. Mellor, Routledge (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2003 (11). 2003.
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155Kant's criteria of the a prioriPacific Philosophical Quarterly 80 (1). 1999.Kant states that necessity and strict universality are criteria of a priori knowledge. Interpreting this dictum standardly and straightforwardly in respect of necessity, it is inconsistent with there being necessary a posteriori truths or contingent a priori truths (cf Kripke). This straightforward interpretation may convict Kant of understandable error (at worst) in the case of necessity, but it is so uncharitable in the case of strict universality that we ought to seek an alternative. I offer …Read more
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113Best opinion, intention-detecting and analytic functionalismPhilosophical Quarterly 44 (175): 239-245. 1994.
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23VIII*—The Analysis of Possibility and the Possibility of AnalysisProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 97 (1): 141-160. 1997.John Divers; VIII*—The Analysis of Possibility and the Possibility of Analysis, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 97, Issue 1, 1 June 1997, Pages
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334Quinean scepticism about de re modality after David LewisEuropean Journal of Philosophy 15 (1). 2007.
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158Modal Reality and (Modal) Logical SpacePhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 88 (3): 726-733. 2014.
University of Glasgow
PhD, 1990
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |