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149Would Carnap have tolerated modern metaphysics?The Monist 106 (3): 326-341. 2023.It is well known that Carnap, early in his philosophical career, took most of metaphysics to consist of meaningless pseudostatements. In contrast to this meaning-theoretic critique of metaphysics, we develop what we take to be Carnap’s later value-based critique. We argue that this later critique is forceful against several central contemporary metaphysical debates, its origin in the principle of tolerance notwithstanding.
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63The Audibility Problem and Indirect ListeningAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 102 (1): 147-158. 2024.There is a strong intuition that we can listen to works of music, yet musical ontologies on which works of music are abstract objects, perhaps most notably, type theories of music, seem to imply that this is impossible. This problem has received relatively little attention in the literature. I here explore and develop a solution suggested by Julian Dodd and argue that it has at least two problematic consequences, namely (i) that some works of music cannot be listened to unless one has already st…Read more
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368Denoting Concepts and Ontology in Russell's Principles of MathematicsJournal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 10 (7). 2022.Bertrand Russell’s _Principles of Mathematics_ (1903) gives rise to several interpretational challenges, especially concerning the theory of denoting concepts. Only relatively recently, for instance, has it been properly realised that Russell accepted denoting concepts that do not denote anything. Such empty denoting concepts are sometimes thought to enable Russell, whether he was aware of it or not, to avoid commitment to some of the problematic non-existent entities he seems to accept, such as…Read more
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756Ways of being have no way of being usefulThought: A Journal of Philosophy 10 (4): 293-301. 2021.I critically discuss two kinds of argument in favour of ontological pluralism and argue that they fail to show that ways of being are explanatorily fruitful.
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212Fictional realism and metaphysically indeterminate identityAnalysis 77 (3): 511-519. 2017.Fictional realists maintain that fictional characters are part of the world’s ontology. In an influential article, Anthony Everett argues that the fictional realist is thereby committing herself to problematic entities. Among these are entities that are indeterminately identical. Recently, Ross Cameron and Richard Woodward have answered Everett’s worry using the same strategy. They argue that the fictional realist can bypass the problematic identities by contending that they are merely semantica…Read more
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Ludwig Maximilians Universität, MünchenMunich Centre for Mathematical PhilosophyPost-doctoral Fellow
Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland