•  129
    The Unity of Consciousness
    Faith and Philosophy 23 (1): 33-44. 2006.
    As part of his case for emergent dualism, William Hasker proffers a _unity-of-_ _consciousness_ (UOC) argument against materialism. I formalize the argument and show how the warrant for two of its premises accrues from the warrant one assigns to two distinct theses about unified conscious experience. I then argue that though both unity theses are plausible, the materialist has little to fear from Hasker
  •  95
    Shoemaker on emergence
    Philosophical Studies 150 (2). 2010.
    Sydney Shoemaker has recently given an account of emergent properties according to which emergent properties are a special type of structural property and the determination relation holding between emergent properties and their base properties is one of "mere nomological supervenience." According to Shoemaker, emergent properties are what he calls type-2 microstructural properties, whereas physical properties are type-1 microstructural properties. After highlighting the advantages of viewing eme…Read more
  •  77
    On the relevance of supervenience theses to physicalism
    Acta Analytica 23 (3): 257-271. 2008.
    This paper is an investigation into the nature of physicalism as well as to the possibility of formulating physicalism as a supervenience thesis. First, I review the motivation for finding a supervenience thesis that characterizes physicalism. Second, I briefly survey the types of supervenience theses that have been proposed as necessary (or, in some cases, as necessary and sufficient) for physicalism. Third, I analyze the recent supervenience thesis proposed by Frank Jackson and expounded upon …Read more
  •  9
    Dembski’s Specification Condition and the Role of Cognitive Abilities
    Philosophia Christi 11 (2): 377-396. 2009.
    This paper brings recent work in virtue epistemology to bear on the debate over design inferences. I intend to show that certain objections to William Dembski’s explanatory filter, in particular his specification condition, are on target, but that incorporating into the specification condition a notion borrowed from virtue epistemologists (a cognitive ability) makes the condition more understandable and immune to the criticisms that have been offered. I conclude by suggesting a way that one migh…Read more
  • Book Review (review)
    Philosophia Christi 3 (1): 287-292. 2001.