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Models typically have actual, existing targets. However, some models are viewed as having non-actual targets. I argue that this interpretation comes at various costs and propose an alternative that fares better along two dimensions: (1) agreement with practice and (2) ontological and epistemological parsimony. My proposal is that many of these models actually have actual targets.Representing Non-actual Targets?Philosophy of Science 89 (5): 918-927. 2022. -
Grounding and the Myth of Ontological InnocenceAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 99 (2): 303-318. 2021.According to the Ontological Innocence Thesis (OIT), grounded entities are ontologically innocent relative to their full grounds. I argue that OIT entails a contradiction, and therefore must be discarded. My argument turns on the notion of “groundmates,” two or more numerically distinct entities that share at least one of their full grounds. I argue that, if OIT is true, then it is both the case that there are groundmates and that there are no groundmates. Therefore, so I conclude, OIT is false.…Read more
University of Virginia
PhD, 2019
New York, New York, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
| General Philosophy of Science |
| Metaphysics |
| Epistemology |
Areas of Interest
1 more
| Scientific Models |
| Analogy in Science |
| Idealization |
| Explanation |
| Laws of Nature |
| Scientific Realism |