Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Epistemology
Metaphysics
Philosophy of Physical Science
Philosophy of Probability
General Philosophy of Science
Causal Eliminativism
Causal Realism
Causal Reductionism
Counterfactual Theories of Causation
Manipulability Theories of Causation
Nomological Theories of Causation
Process Theories of Causation
Statistical Theories of Causation
Theories of Causation, Misc
Chance and Determinism
Chance and Objective Probability, Misc
Frequentism
Logical Probability
Probabilistic Laws
Propensities
Chance-Credence Principles
Humeanism and Nonhumeanism about Chance
Dispositional and Categorical Properties
Dispositions and Bases
Dispositions and Laws
Anti-Realism about Laws
Best-Systems Analyses
Ceteris Paribus Laws
Humeanism and Nonhumeanism about Laws
Law Statements
Laws as Relations between Universals
Necessitarianism about Laws
Nomological Necessity
Special Science Laws
Laws of Nature, Misc
Explanation and Laws
Causation and Laws
Logical Atomism
Metaphysical Naturalism
Formulating Physicalism
Causal Closure of the Physical
Nonreductive Materialism
Supervenience and Physicalism
Humean Supervenience
Methodology in Metaphysics
Ontological Disagreement
Actualism and Possibilism
Essence and Essentialism, Misc
Scientific Essentialism
Necessitism and Contingentism
De Re Modality, Misc
Conceptual Necessity
Metaphysical Necessity
Natural Properties
Property Nominalism
Quantities
Realism and Anti-Realism
Metaphysical Realism
Internal Realism
The Model-Theoretic Argument
Quasi-Realism
Standard Scientific Realism
Convergent Realism
Structural Realism
Constructive Empiricism
Instrumentalism
Convergence and Scientific Realism
Abduction and Scientific Realism
Novel Predictions and Scientific Realism
The Observation-Theory Distinction
Underdetermination of Theory by Data
Historical Arguments Against Scientific Realism
The Miracle Argument for Scientific Realism
Arguments For and Against Scientific Realism, Misc
Semantic Anti-Realism
Realism and Anti-Realism, Misc
Temporal Ontology
Eternalism
Growing Block Views
Presentism
The Open Future
Determinism
Fatalism
A-Theories of Time
B-Theories of Time
Experience of Temporal Passage
McTaggart's Argument
Physics of Time
The Specious Present
Time and Memory
Temporal Experience, Misc
The Direction of Time
Time Travel
Free Will and Neuroscience
Free Will and Physics
Free Will and Psychology
Compatibilism
Semi-Compatibilism
Theories of Freedom
Alternative Possibilities
Free Will and Responsibility
Free Will and Foreknowledge
Responsibility and Reactive Attitudes
The Consequence Argument
Topics in Free Will, Misc
Control and Responsibility
Causal Decision Theory
Evidential Decision Theory
Decision-Theoretic Frameworks, Misc
Newcomb's Problem
Deflationary Theories of Meaning
Inferentialist Accounts of Meaning and Content
Interpretivist Accounts of Meaning and Content
Use Theories of Meaning
Deflationary Theories of Reference
Verificationist Theories of Meaning
Rule-Based Theories of Meaning
Conceptual Analysis
Analyticity and A Priority
The Analytic-Synthetic Distinction
Radical Interpretation
The Intentional Stance
Reference
Liar Paradox
Correspondence Theory of Truth
Deflationism about Truth
Pragmatism about Truth
Prosentential Theory of Truth
Primitivism about Truth
Pluralism about Truth
Relativism about Truth
Truth and Justification
Truth-Value Gaps
Contextual Theories of Vagueness
Degree Theories of Vagueness
Supervaluationism
Fine-Tuning in Cosmology
Arguments for Theism, Misc
The Argument from Evil
Divine Hiddenness
Epistemology of Religion, Misc
Reformed Epistemology
Religious Experience
Religious Imagination
Buddhism
Judaism
Religious Inclusivism and Exclusivism
Religious Pluralism
Science and Religion
Philosophy of Religion, General Works
Philosophy of Religion, Misc
M&E, Misc
Logical Consequence and Entailment
Sorites Paradox
Logical Semantics and Logical Truth
Mathematical Neo-Fregeanism
Bohmian Interpretation
Collapse Interpretations
Copenhagen Interpretation
Decoherence Interpretations
Everett Interpretation
Measurement Problem
Probabilities in Quantum Mechanics
Relational Interpretations
Transactional Interpretation
Action at a Distance
Bell's Theorem
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
Entanglement
Quantum Determinism and Indeterminism
Quantum Self-Observation
Schrodinger's Cat
Uncertainty Principle
History of Quantum Mechanics
Causal Theories of Spacetime
Conventionalism about Spacetime
Relationism about Spacetime
Substantivalism about Spacetime
The Hole Argument
Metaphysics of Spacetime, Misc
Simultaneity
General Relativity
Space and Time, Misc
Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
Probability in the Physical Sciences, Misc
Philosophy of Physical Science, Misc
Conditional Probability
Degrees of Belief
Imprecise Credences
Philosophy of Statistics
Induction, Misc
Inductive Logic
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive Skepticism
Justification of Induction
New Riddle of Induction
Inference to the Best Explanation, Misc
Hypothetico-Deductive Method
Causal Accounts of Explanation
Deductive-Nomological Explanation
Unification Accounts of Explanation
Pragmatic Theories of Explanation
Theories of Explanation, Misc
Functional Explanation
Mathematical Explanation
Mechanistic Explanation
Narrative Explanation
Statistical Explanation
Explanatory Pluralism
Varieties of Explanation, Misc
Explanation in Mathematics
Pragmatics and Explanation
Explanatory Value
Explanation and Understanding
Explanation, Miscellaneous
History of Physics
Logical Empiricism
Philosophy of Science, General Works
General Philosophy of Science, Misc
Downward Causation
Emergence, Misc
Emergence in Physical Science
Concepts of Emergence
Reductionism
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Multiple Realizability
Theory Reduction
Reductive Explanation
Measurement in Science
Science and Values
Francis Bacon
Isaac Newton
Thomas Reid
Leibniz: Metaphysics
Leibniz: Epistemology
Leibniz: Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
Leibniz: Philosophy of Science
Leibniz: Philosophy of Religion
Moses Mendelssohn
Kant: Space
Kant: Time
Kant: Transcendental Idealism
Kant: Causation
Kant: Freedom
Kant: Modality
19th Century Philosophy
William James
Josiah Royce
Charles Sanders Peirce
Ernst Mach
John Stuart Mill
Ludwig Feuerbach
Friedrich Nietzsche
Arthur Schopenhauer
Friedrich Schleiermacher
20th Century Philosophy
Rudolf Carnap
Donald Davidson
Paul Feyerabend
Nelson Goodman
David Lewis
Wilfrid Sellars
Gilbert Ryle
Bertrand Russell
Chinese Buddhist Philosophy
Logics
261 more
  •  448
    Fine-tuning and the infrared bull’s-eye
    Philosophical Studies 160 (2): 287-303. 2012.
    I argue that the standard way of formalizing the fine-tuning argument for design is flawed, and I present an alternative formalization. On the alternative formalization, the existence of life is not treated as the evidence that confirms design; instead it is treated as part of the background knowledge, while the fact that fine tuning is required for life serves as the evidence. I argue that the alternative better captures the informal line of thought that gives the fine-tuning argument its intui…Read more
  •  177
    A law about frequencies would be a law of nature that imposes a constraint on one or more (actual, global) frequencies. On any of the leading philosophical approaches to laws of nature, there could be laws about frequencies. Hypotheses that posit laws about frequencies turn out to behave very similarly to hypotheses that posit corresponding laws about probabilities or chances -- they make the same predictions, provide similar explanations, and are confirmed or disconfirmed by empirical evidence …Read more
  •  147
    Leibniz on force and absolute motion
    Philosophy of Science 70 (3): 553-573. 2003.
    I elaborate and defend an interpretation of Leibniz on which he is committed to a stronger space-time structure than so-called Leibnizian space-time, with absolute speeds grounded in his concept of force rather than in substantival space and time. I argue that this interpretation is well-motivated by Leibniz's mature writings, that it renders his views on space, time, motion, and force consistent with his metaphysics, and that it makes better sense of his replies to Clarke than does the standard…Read more
  •  144
    Chance without Credence
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 64 (1): 33-59. 2013.
    It is a standard view that the concept of chance is inextricably related to the technical concept of credence . One influential version of this view is that the chance role is specified by (something in the neighborhood of) David Lewis's Principal Principle, which asserts a certain definite relation between chance and credence. If this view is right, then one cannot coherently affirm that there are chance processes in the physical world while rejecting the theoretical framework in which credence…Read more
  •  122
    This is the first part of a two-part article in which we defend the thesis of Humean Supervenience about Laws of Nature (HS). According to this thesis, two possible worlds cannot differ on what is a law of nature unless they also differ on the Humean base. The Humean base is easily to characterize intuitively, but there is no consensus on how, precisely, it should be defined. Here in Part I, we present and motivate a characterization of the Humean base that, we argue, enables HS to capture what …Read more
  •  121
    A puzzle about laws, symmetries and measurability
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59 (2): 143-168. 2008.
    I describe a problem about the relations among symmetries, laws and measurable quantities. I explain why several ways of trying to solve it will not work, and I sketch a solution that might work. I discuss this problem in the context of Newtonian theories, but it also arises for many other physical theories. The problem is that there are two ways of defining the space-time symmetries of a physical theory: as its dynamical symmetries or as its empirical symmetries. The two definitions are not equ…Read more
  •  54
    Taking relativism seriously
    with Caroline New and Ruth Groff
    Journal of Critical Realism 4 (1): 221-246. 2005.
  •  38
    Often when a new scientific theory is introduced, new terms are introduced along with it. Some of these new terms might be given explicit definitions using only terms that were in currency prior to the introduction of the theory. Some of them might be defined using other new terms introduced with the theory. But it frequently happens that the standard formulations of a theory do not define some of the new terms at all; these terms are adopted as primitives. The audience is expected to come to gr…Read more
  •  36
    Contact with the Nomic: A Challenge for Deniers of Humean Supervenience about Laws of Nature Part I: Humean Supervenience
    with John Earman
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 71 (1): 1-22. 2007.
    This the first part of a two‐part article in which we defend the thesis of Humean Supervenience about Laws of Nature (HS). According to this thesis, two possible worlds cannot differ on what is a law of nature unless they also differ on the Humean base. the Humean base is easy to characterize intuitively, but there is no consensus on how, precisely, it should be defined. Here in Part I, we present and motivate a characterization of the Humean base that, we argue, enables HS to capture what is re…Read more
  •  29
    Comments
    with M. S. Dresselhaus, Clark Kerr, Walter E. Massey, and Charles H. Townes
    Minerva 30 (2): 148-162. 1992.
  •  26
    Measurements, laws, and counterfactuals
    In Stephen Mumford & Matthew Tugby (eds.), Metaphysics and Science, Oxford University Press. pp. 29. 2013.
  •  25
    Review Symposium: Taking relativism seriously
    with Caroline New and Ruth Groff
    Journal of Critical Realism 4 (1): 221-246. 2005.
  •  17
    And counterfactuals
    In Stephen Mumford & Matthew Tugby (eds.), Metaphysics and Science, Oxford University Press. pp. 29. 2013.
  •  11
    The political economy of the image
    Philosophy of Photography 6 (1): 25-35. 2015.
    This article analyses the political economy of the image today, a historical conjuncture in which art contributes its meanings (even its critiques and negations) to a process of socialization through consumption. This analysis is pursued in light of the reception of an idea of the image drawn from a world before capitalism – or certainly on the edge of capitalism and modernity – as found in Novalis’s unfinished and posthumous novel Henry von Ofterdingen of 1802.
  •  9
    After modernism and postmodernism, it is argued, the everyday supposedly is where a democracy of taste is brought into being - the place where art goes to recover its customary and collective pleasures, and where the shared pleasures of popular culture are indulged, from celebrity magazines to shopping malls. John Roberts argues that this understanding of the everyday downgrades its revolutionary meaning and philosophical implications. Bringing radical political theory back to the centre of the …Read more
  •  9
    Photography and its Violations
    Cambridge University Press. 2014.
    Theorists critique photography for "objectifying" its subjects and manipulating appearances for the sake of art. In this bold counterargument, John Roberts recasts photography's violating powers of disclosure and aesthetic technique as part of a complex "social ontology" that exposes the hierarchies, divisions, and exclusions behind appearances. The photographer must "arrive unannounced" and "get in the way of the world," Roberts argues, committing photography to the truth-claims of the spectato…Read more
  •  7
    The book is not a history of photography, but a history of the theories of photography.
  •  3
    Laws of Nature: Meeting the Empiricist Challenge
    Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. 1999.
    Many philosophers insist that any adequate philosophical account of laws of nature must be consistent with Humean supervenience about the nomic . This is the thesis that the facts about the laws of nature must supervene on the particular, occurrent facts about the actual world. Earman argues that Humean supervenience poses an "empiricist loyalty test on laws." I concur, for as I argue, consistency with Humean supervenience is a necessary condition for upholding a plausible minimal empiricism con…Read more
  • Determinism
    In J. Pfeifer & Sahotra Sarkar (eds.), The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, Psychology Press. pp. 1. 2006.