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26Does matter mind content?Noûs. forthcoming.Let ‘semantic relevance’ be the thesis that the wide semantic properties of representational mental states (like beliefs and desires) are causally relevant to behavior. A popular way of arguing for semantic relevance runs as follows: start with a sufficient counterfactual condition for causal or explanatory relevance, and show that wide semantic properties meet it with respect to behavior (e.g., Loewer & Lepore (1987,1989), Rescorla (2014), Yablo (2003)).This paper discusses an in‐principle limi…Read more
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785Naturalness by lawNoûs 57 (1): 100-127. 2023.The intuitive distinction between natural and unnatural properties (e.g., green vs. grue) informs our theorizing not only in fundamental physics, but also in non-fundamental domains. This paper develops a reductive account of this broad notion of naturalness that covers non-fundamental properties: for a property to be natural, I propose, is for it to figure in a law of nature. After motivating the account, I defend it from a potential circularity charge. I argue that a suitably broad notion of l…Read more
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339From Nomic Humeanism to Normative RelativismPhilosophical Perspectives 36 (1): 118-139. 2023.It is commonly thought that that the best system account of lawhood ((Mill (1843), Ramsey (1978)[fp. 1928], Lewis (1973)) makes available a nice explanation for why laws are ‘distinctively appropriate targets of scientific inquiry’ (Hall, 2015). The explanation takes the following general form: laws are especially valuable for agents like us because they efficiently encode a lot of valuable (non-nomic) information in a tractable format. The goal of this paper is to challenge this style of expla…Read more
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605Crystallized RegularitiesJournal of Philosophy 117 (8): 434-466. 2020.This essay proposes a reductive account of robust macro-regularities. On the view proposed, regularities can earn their elite scientific status by featuring in good summaries of restricted regions in the space of physical possibilities: our “modal neighborhoods.” I argue that this view vindicates “nomic foundationalism”, while doing justice to the practice of invoking physically contingent generalizations in higher-level explanations. Moreover, the view suggests an explanation for the particular…Read more
Rutgers - New Brunswick
PhD, 2021
New York, New York, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Cognitive Science |
Metaphysics |
General Philosophy of Science |
Philosophy of Mind |
Areas of Interest
Representation |
Laws of Nature |
Natural Properties |
Bayesian Reasoning |
Concepts |