About
I worked for several years as a teaching assistant at the University of Leeds whilst I was a postgraduate. Before finishing my thesis I moved to the University of Glasgow for a one year temporary contract, teaching the philosophy of science and metaphysics. When that contract expired I moved to the University of Birmingham, who took me on permanently.
Qualifications
I received my BA in Joint Honours English and Philosophy from the University of Leeds, and went on to take my MA in Philosophy there. I stayed on to complete my PhD thesis, arguing for the restricted composition of material objects, supervised by Joseph Melia.
Teaching
I currently teach:
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Third year metaphysics
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Second year philosophy of mind
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First year introduction to epistemology and metaphysics
I also convene the third year Philosophical Project module and run the weekly postgraduate seminar
Postgraduate supervision
Potential postgraduates looking to be supervised in any area of analytic metaphysics, including those areas that crossover into the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science (particularly the philosophy of physics) should get in touch. I can also supervise certain areas of the philosophy of religion.
Research
My research has previously focused on mereology, persistence, supersubstantivalism, vagueness, time travel and the philosophy of groups.
I am presently researching:
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General issues in ontology. Currently I am trying to resurrect mereological nominalism about properties and investigating Pythagoreanism (the thesis that everything is a mathematical object).
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The philosophy of location (I’m hoping to convince everyone to start calling it ‘chorology’). I am focusing on the location of properties; how chorology dovetails with mereology; the differences between atemporal chorology and temporally relativised chorology; and how certain chorological systems look set to solve problems in the philosophy of religion (such as the atemporality of God and problems surrounding the Incarnation).
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The philosophy of closed timelike curves. I’m hoping to write a monograph on the subject during my research leave next year.
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Whether talk of ‘fundamentality’, ‘ontological dependence’, ‘really existing’ etc. is bankrupt and, if it isn’t, what sense to make of it.
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I am also writing an introduction to ontology for upper level undergraduates. It is under contract and will be published by Polity in 2012.
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If I get any spare time I want to do some work on aesthetics (specifically the varieties of indeterminate truth in fiction, and how tabletop role-playing games bear on issues in aesthetics) and the philosophy of mind (specifically whether ‘reduction’ makes any sense or is instead some neoscholastic gibberish, and the Zombie argument).
Other activities
Publications
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An Introduction to Ontology, Polity Press, under contract to be completed Spring 2012
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Undermining Motivations for Universalism, Noûs (forthcoming)., (forthcoming).
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Endurantism and Perdurantism, Continuum Companion to Metaphysics (forthcoming).
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Sider, Hawley, Sider and the Vagueness Argument, Philosophical Studies (forthcoming).
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Temporal Parts and Time Travel, Erkenntnis (forthcoming).
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An Unwelcome Consequence of the Multiverse Thesis, Synthese (forthcoming).
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Key Concepts in Metaphysics, Routledge, (2010; co-authored with Helen Beebee and Philip Goff)
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The Metaphysics of Groups, Philosophical Studies 149 (2010): 251-67., 149 (2010): 251-67.
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Mereological Explanation and Time Travel, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 88 (2010): 333-45., 88 (2010): 333-45.
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Universalism, Vagueness and Supersubstantivalism Australasian Journal of Philosophy 87 (2009): 35-42. 87 (2009): 35-42.
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Composition, Persistence and Identity, in The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics ed. Le Poidevin, Simons, McGonigal and Cameron (2009): 296-309.
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Endurantism and Timeless Worlds (with Joseph Melia) Analysis 67 (2007): 140-7 (with Joseph Melia) 67 (2007): 140-7
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A Mereological Challenge to Endurantism (with Jon Robson) Australasian Journal of Philosophy 85 (2007): 633-40 (with Jon Robson) 85 (2007): 633-4