Explanation has both a subjective aspect and an objective aspect - it is partly about us, and partly about the world. As such it offers a tempting route into questions about the nature of reality and our access to it. I am interested in connections between explanation and metaphysics, and attempts to use facts about explanation as a guide to facts about metaphysics.
Some of my work on this theme is critical, in that I show that certain attempts to use explanation as a guide to metaphysics fail. Some is constructive, in that I develop paths from explanation to metaphysics in light of these critical insights. These connections between explanation and metaphysics are particularly salient in social metaphysics, and my research includes work on foundational issues in social metaphysics.
I am a member of the JHU Foundations of Mind Group
Some of my work on this theme is critical, in that I show that certain attempts to use explanation as a guide to metaphysics fail. Some is constructive, in that I develop paths from explanation to metaphysics in light of these critical insights. These connections between explanation and metaphysics are particularly salient in social metaphysics, and my research includes work on foundational issues in social metaphysics.
I am a member of the JHU Foundations of Mind Group
Papers
"Substantive Social Metaphysics." (forthcoming) Philosophers' Imprint
(Penultimate draft)
"Explanatory Distance." (forthcoming) British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
(Penultimate draft, BJPS "Short Read")
"Power Emergentism and the Collapse Problem." (2022) Philosophy of Science 89(2): 302-318
(Penultimate draft)
"Backing Without Realism." (2020) Erkenntnis https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-020-00249-w
(Penultimate draft)
"Social Categories in Context." (2020) Journal of the American Philosophical Association 6(2): 171-187
(Penultimate draft)
"How to Make the Case for Brute Facts." (2018) in Brute Facts, edited by Elly Vintiadis and Constantinos Mekios, Oxford University Press.
(Penultimate draft)
"Against Explanatory Realism." (2018) Philosophical Studies 175 (1):197-219
(Penultimate draft)
“Explanatory Emergence as a Guide to Metaphysical Structure.” (2017) Philosophica 91: 15-48
"Only Explanation Can Reinflate Emergence." (2017) The Philosophical Quarterly, 68 (271): 385–394
(Penultimate Draft)
"Groups and Oppression." (2016) Hypatia 31 (3): 520–536
(Penultimate draft)
"Explanation and the Explanatory Gap." (2016) Acta Analytica 31 (1): 77-88
(Penultimate draft)
"Naturalness in Context." (2016) Inquiry. 59 (4): 319-342
(Penultimate draft)
"Collapsing Emergence." (2015) The Philosophical Quarterly 65 (271): 732-753
(Penultimate draft)
"An Explication of Emergence." (2015) Philosophical Studies 172 (3)653-669
(Penultimate draft)
Reviews
Review of Jessica Wilson's Metaphysical Emergence (forthcoming) Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
Review of Carl Gillett's Reduction and Emergence in Science and Philosophy (2017) British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Review of Books.
"Substantive Social Metaphysics." (forthcoming) Philosophers' Imprint
(Penultimate draft)
"Explanatory Distance." (forthcoming) British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
(Penultimate draft, BJPS "Short Read")
"Power Emergentism and the Collapse Problem." (2022) Philosophy of Science 89(2): 302-318
(Penultimate draft)
"Backing Without Realism." (2020) Erkenntnis https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-020-00249-w
(Penultimate draft)
"Social Categories in Context." (2020) Journal of the American Philosophical Association 6(2): 171-187
(Penultimate draft)
"How to Make the Case for Brute Facts." (2018) in Brute Facts, edited by Elly Vintiadis and Constantinos Mekios, Oxford University Press.
(Penultimate draft)
"Against Explanatory Realism." (2018) Philosophical Studies 175 (1):197-219
(Penultimate draft)
“Explanatory Emergence as a Guide to Metaphysical Structure.” (2017) Philosophica 91: 15-48
"Only Explanation Can Reinflate Emergence." (2017) The Philosophical Quarterly, 68 (271): 385–394
(Penultimate Draft)
"Groups and Oppression." (2016) Hypatia 31 (3): 520–536
(Penultimate draft)
"Explanation and the Explanatory Gap." (2016) Acta Analytica 31 (1): 77-88
(Penultimate draft)
"Naturalness in Context." (2016) Inquiry. 59 (4): 319-342
(Penultimate draft)
"Collapsing Emergence." (2015) The Philosophical Quarterly 65 (271): 732-753
(Penultimate draft)
"An Explication of Emergence." (2015) Philosophical Studies 172 (3)653-669
(Penultimate draft)
Reviews
Review of Jessica Wilson's Metaphysical Emergence (forthcoming) Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
Review of Carl Gillett's Reduction and Emergence in Science and Philosophy (2017) British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Review of Books.