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Why there is no crisis of representation according to PeirceSemiotica. forthcoming.
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Peirce in FinlandEuropean Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 6 (1). 2014.
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Rainforest realism: A Dennettian theory of existenceIn Don Ross, Andrew Brook & David Thompson (eds.), Dennett’s Philosophy: A Comprehensive Assessment, Mit Press. pp. 147-168. 2000.
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12 Why Frank Should Not Have Jilted MaryIn Edmond Wright (ed.), The Case for Qualia, Mit Press. pp. 223. 2008.
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Phenomenal realist physicalism implies coherency of epiphenomenalist meaningJournal of Consciousness Studies 19 (3-4): 145-163. 2012.Recent criticisms of epiphenomenalism include a meaning objection. This is a self-stultification objection according to which epiphenomenalism is incoherent, because phenomenal terms could not mean what epiphenomenalists say they mean if epiphenomenalism were true. This paper seeks to remove the sting of this objection by showing that one can construct a coherent epiphenomenalist theory of meaning from any coherent account that may be offered by a phenomenal realist physicalist. This argument be…Read more
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The existential graphs of Charles S. PeirceMouton. 1973.
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The Significance for Cognitive Realism of the Thought of John PoinsotAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 68 (3): 409-424. 1994.
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Furnishing the Mind: Concepts and Their Perceptual BasisMIT Press. 2002.
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Tractatus de Signis: The Semiotic of John PoinsotSt. Augustine's Press. 1985.
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Knowledge, Possibility, and ConsciousnessPhilosophical Quarterly 53 (213): 616-618. 2003.
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Précis of Thinking about ConsciousnessPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 71 (1): 143-143. 2002.
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Phenomenal and perceptual conceptsIn Torin Andrew Alter & Sven Walter (eds.), Phenomenal Concepts and Phenomenal Knowledge: New Essays on Consciousness and Physicalism, Oxford University Press. pp. 111--144. 2006.
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The indexical nature of sensory conceptsPhilosophical Papers 32 (2): 169-181. 2002.This paper advances the thesis that sensory concepts have as a semantic component the first-person indexical. It is argued that the private nature of our access to our own sensations forces, in our talking about them, an indexical reference to the inner states of the speaker in lieu of publicly accessible properties by which reference is usually fixed. Indexicals, such as ‘here’, can be understood despite ignorance of their referent. Such is the case with sensory terms. Furthermore, the thesis t…Read more
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Scholarship on the relations between Ludwig Wittgenstein and Charles S. PeirceIn Ignacio Angelelli & María Cerezo (eds.), Studies on the History of Logic: Proceedings of the III. Symposium on the History of Logic, Walter De Gruyter. 1996.Thirty years ago Richard Rorty detected the similarities between Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations (1953) and the philosophical framework of Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914), the founder of pragmatism. Rorty tried to show that Peirce envisaged and repudiated in advance logical positivism and developed insights and a philosophical mood very close to the analytical philosophers influenced by the later Wittgenstein (Rorty 1961). In spite of that, the majority of scholars have considered both…Read more
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Handbook of SemioticsIndiana University Press. 1990.
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The View From NowhereOxford University Press. 1986.Human beings have the unique ability to view the world in a detached way: We can think about the world in terms that transcend our own experience or interest, and consider the world from a vantage point that is, in Nagel's words, "nowhere in particular". At the same time, each of us is a particular person in a particular place, each with his own "personal" view of the world, a view that we can recognize as just one aspect of the whole. How do we reconcile these two standpoints--intellectually, m…Read more
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Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly FalseOxford University Press. 2012.The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolu…Read more
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Can we solve the mind-body problem?Mind 98 (July): 349-66. 1989.
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Mind and WorldHarvard University Press. 1994.
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The inferential and equational models from ancient times to the postmodernSemiotica 2010 (178): 255-274. 2010.
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Philodemus De signis: An important ancient semiotic debateSemiotica 2002 (138). 2002.
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Phenomenal statesPhilosophical Perspectives 4 81-108. 1990.
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Philosophical History and the Problem of ConsciousnessCambridge University Press. 2004.The problem of explaining consciousness remains a problem about the meaning of language: the ordinary language of consciousness in which we define and express our sensations, thoughts, dreams and memories. This book argues that the problem arises from a quest that has taken shape over the twentieth century, and that the analysis of history provides new resources for understanding and resolving it. Paul Livingston traces the development of the characteristic practices of analytic philosophy to pr…Read more
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A General Introduction to the Semeiotic of Charles Sanders PeirceThe Personalist Forum 15 (2): 437-442. 1999.
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On Leaving Out What It’s LikeIn Martin Ed Davies & Glyn W. Humphreys (eds.), On Leaving Out What It’s Like, Blackwell. pp. 121-136. 1993.
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Every thing must go: metaphysics naturalizedOxford University Press. 2007.
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Zombies and ConsciousnessOxford University Press UK. 2005.By definition zombies would be physically and behaviourally just like us, but not conscious. This currently very influential idea is a threat to all forms of physicalism, and has led some philosophers to give up physicalism and become dualists. It has also beguiled many physicalists, who feel forced to defend increasingly convoluted explanations of why the conceivability of zombies is compatible with their impossibility. Robert Kirk argues that the zombie idea depends on an incoherent view of th…Read more
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Transparency and Representationalist Theories of ConsciousnessPhilosophy Compass 5 (10): 902-913. 2010.Over the past few decades, as philosophers of mind have begun to rethink the sharp divide that was traditionally drawn between the phenomenal character of an experience (what it’s like to have that experience) and its intentional content (what it represents), representationalist theories of consciousness have become increasingly popular. On this view, phenomenal character is reduced to intentional content. This article explores a key motivation for this theory, namely, considerations of experien…Read more
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Memes versus signs: On the use of meaning concepts about nature and cultureSemiotica 2008 (171): 215-237. 2008.
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mind |
Epistemology |
Semiotics |
Philosophy of Technology, Misc |