CV

(Available here as a PDF.)

APPOINTMENTS  
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

• Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, 2020 — ongoing.
• Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, 2017 — 2020.

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST

• Affiliate Graduate Faculty, Department of Philosophy, 2019 — ongoing.

BROWN UNIVERSITY

• Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, 2013 — 2017.

EDUCATION    
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Ph.D. in Philosophy, 2012.
Dissertation: ‘Chance, Indeterminacy, and Explanation’. Committee: Brad Skow, Robert Stalnaker, Ned Hall.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY
B.A. in Physics, Philosophy, 2005. Summa Cum Laude.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY
Visiting student in Physics and Philosophy. 2003-2004.

AOS    
Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Physics.

AOC    
Epistemology, Applied Ethics, Logic & Critical Reasoning

HONORS & AWARDS    

• President of the Philosophy of Time Society. 2023 - 2026.
• Finalist, American Philosophical Association Prize for Excellence in Philosophy Teaching. 2022.
• Mount Holyoke Faculty Teaching Award. 2022.
• Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Fellowship. 2022.
• President of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science. 2022 - 2023.
• Distinguished Faculty Teaching Fellow. Mount Holyoke College. 2021-2022.
• Visiting Fellowship at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Spring 2017.
• Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowship. Brown University. 2016 — 2017.
• The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, Junior Faculty Teaching Fellow. Brown University. 2014 — 2015.

PUBLICATIONS    
BOOKS

• Naturalism Beyond the Limits of Science. Oxford University Press. 2023.

PAPERS

• 'The Explanatory Role Argument and the Metaphysics of Deterministic Chance‘. Levels of Explanation, Katie Robertson and Alastair Wilson (eds.) Forthcoming.
• 'Quantum Correlations and the Explanatory Power of Radical Metaphysical Hypotheses.’ Philosophical Studies. Forthcoming.
• ‘The Governing Conception of Laws.’ Ergo. Forthcoming.
• ‘Mooreanism in Metaphysics from Mooreanism in Physics.’ Inquiry. Forthcoming.
• ‘The Governing Conception of the Wavefunction.’ Quantum Mechanics and Fundamentality, Valia Allori (ed). Forthcoming
• ‘Temporal Ersatzism and Relativity.’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy. 2021.
• ‘Laws of Nature.’ Routledge Handbook of Metaphysical Grounding, Mike Raven (ed). 2021.
• ‘Chance and Determinism.’ Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics. Alastair Wilson and Eleanor Knox (eds). 2021.
• ‘Time.’ The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2020. (Co-authored work with Ned Markosian and Meghan Sullivan.)
• ‘Laws and their instances.’ Philosophical Studies. 2019.
• ‘Actualism without Presentism? Not by way of the Relativity Objection.’ Nous. 2018.
• 'Actualism, Presentism and the Grounding Objection.’ Erkenntnis. 2018.
• ‘Against Radical Quantum Ontologies.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 2017.
• ‘A Naturalist’s Guide to Objective Chance.’ Philosophy of Science. 2017.
• ‘Temporal Ersatzism.’ Philosophy Compass. 2017.
• ‘Impossible Worlds and Metaphysical Explanation: Comments on Kment’s Modality and Explanatory Reasoning.’ Analysis. 2016. (Co-authored work with Christopher Hill, Brown University.)
• ‘The Metaphysical Consequences of Counterfactual Skepticism.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 2015.
• ‘Chance, Possibility, and Explanation.’ The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 2015.

BOOK REVIEWS & OTHER SCHOLARSHIP

• 'Review of Hütteman, A Minimal Metaphysics for Scientific Practice.' Forthcoming. Philosophical Review.
• 'Review of Alastair Wilson (ed.), Chance and Temporal Asymmetry.’ Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. 2015.
• 'What is chance?' (A Wireless Philosophy video.)
• 'Compatibilism about Chance and Determinism.' (An entry for Auxiliary Hypotheses, the blog of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.)
• ‘A Middle Ground for Metaphysics.’ (A contribution to Meena Krishnamurthy's Featured Philosop-her blog series.)

IN PROGRESS
BOOK PROJECTS

• Philosophical Issues in Quantum Theory. (Co-authored work with Ned Hall.) (Under contract with Oxford University Press.)
• Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Time. (Under contract with Routledge.)

PAPERS

• Configuration Space Realism & Fundamentality (co-authored work with Gabrielle Kerbel)

PRESENTATIONS
PAPERS
‘Naturalism Beyond the Limits of Science’

• Rutgers University. October 2023.
• As the Presidential Address at the Society for the Metaphysics of Science Conference, 2023.
• The From Science to Metaphysics? Workshop at UC Louvain, Belgium. June 2023.
• University of Maryland. October 2022.
• University of Leeds. May 2022.
• University of Wisconsin at Madison. March 2022.
• As an invited session of the Eastern APA on metaphysics of science. January 2021.

‘Self-grading in the Philosophy Classroom’ at the Eastern APA teaching hub session on alternative grading. January 2022.

‘Configuration Space Realism and Fundamentality’

• As a symposium session at the Pacific APA. 2022.
• The Nature of Quantum Objects Conference at the University of Geneva, November 2021.
• The 6th annual Society for the Metaphysics of Science Conference (online), September 2021.

‘The Governing Conception of the Wavefunction’

• University of Toronto. March 2021.
• The Harvard Foundations of Physics Workshop. June 2020.

'Subjective and Objective in the Metaphysics of Science'

• At the Cal Tech Philosophy of Physics Group. February 2021.

'Quantum Correlations and the Explanatory Power of Radical Metaphysical Hypotheses'

• At ELLMM City at Yale. February 2021.

'Methodological Naturalism'

• At an invited session of the Eastern APA on metaphysics of science. January 2021.

‘What Was and What Could Be: What Makes Time Different from Modality’

• The California Metaphysics Conference at USC, January 2020.
• Colloquium talk at Amherst College, March 2019.

‘Mooreanism in Metaphysics from Mooreanism in Physics’

• The New England Workshop in Metaphysics, Rhode Island College, December 2019
• Colloquium talk at UVM, March 2019.
• The MITing of the Minds Conference at MIT, January 2019.
• The Metaphysics Ranch Conference, January 2019.
• Colloquium talk at Vassar College. October 2017.

'The Governing Conception of Laws'

• The Modality, Laws, and Causation Workshop at Simon Fraser University (online). May 2020.
• The FraMEPhys Workshop on Grounding and Laws at Birmingham University, United Kingdom. June 2019.
• The Humean Laws Workshop at Harvard University. May 2019.
• The Metro Area Philosophy of Science Group at NYU. April 2019.
• Keynote at the MARI Graduate Conference at UMass Amherst. April 2019.
• The Explanations Across the Disciplines Conference, Middlebury College. September 2018.

'Temporal Ersatzism and Relativity'

• The International Association for the Philosophy of Time Conference at the University of Colorado, Boulder. June 2019.
• Philosophy of Time Society Group Meeting. Pacific APA. April 2017.

'The Explanatory Role Argument and the Metaphysics of Deterministic Chance'

• The 34th Committee on the History and Philosophy of Science Conference, University of Colorado at Boulder. October 2018.
• Foundations of Probability Seminar at Rutgers University. September 2017.

‘Laws and their Instances’

•  The Inaugural Balter Distinguished Lecture at UNC Chapel Hill. April 2017.
• Metaphysics on the Mountain II. Sun Valley, ID. March 2017.
• Colloquium talk at the University of Colorado Boulder. February 2017.
• The Ground in Philosophy of Science Conference, University of Geneva. September 2016.
• ‘Actualism without Presentism: Not by way of the Relativity Objection’
• The SPAWN Conference. Syracuse University. June 2017.
• The International Association for the Philosophy of Time Conference at Lake Garda, Italy. June 2017.
• The Early Career Workshop in Metaphysics, Fordham University. April 2016.
• Colloquium talk at Dartmouth College. April 2016.

‘Against Radical Quantum Ontologies’

• RISD Digital+Media Visiting Speaker Series. November 2016.
• Colloquium talk at CUNY Graduate Center. September 2016.
• The 2016 Society for the Metaphysics of Science Conference, University of Geneva. September 2016.
• The Vancouver Summer Philosophy Conference, University of British Columbia. August 2016.
• The Midsummer Philosophy Workshop, University of Cambridge. June 2016.
• The Philosophy Desert Workshop. April 2016.
• Colloquium talk UMass Amherst. February 2016.
• Colloquium talk at Rhode Island College. February 2016.
• Colloquium talk at the Brown University Physics Department. 2013.

‘From Observables to Ontology in Quantum Mechanics’

• The Grounding in the Quantum World Workshop, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland September 2016.    

‘Production and the Passage of Time’

• The International Association for the Philosophy of Time Meeting Panel on Time and Causation, Wake Forest University. June 2016.    

‘Deterministic Chance as Emergent Chance’

• The University of Colorado at Boulder Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science. October 2015.
• The Chance Encounter Workshop, University of Groningen, Netherlands. June 2016.

‘A Naturalist’s Guide to Objective Chance’

• The Society for the Metaphysics of Science Conference, Rutgers Newark. September 2015.
• The Young Philosophers Lecture Series, DePauw University. September 2015.
• The Chance and Conditionals Workshop, University of London. June 2014.

‘Temporal Uniformity and the Governing Conception of Laws’

• MIT Work In Progress Seminar. February 2015.

‘Actualism without Presentism? Not by way of the Grounding Objection’

• The Philosophy Mountain Workshop. February 2015.
• Keynote at  the Schapiro Graduate Conference at Brown University. November 2014.

‘The Metaphysical Implications of Counterfactual Skepticism’.

• Brown University, January 2012.
• Tufts University, January 2011.
• Weber State University, January 2011.
• Colorado College, January 2011.

‘Chance, Indeterminacy, and Explanation’

• Franklin and Marshall College, January 2011.    

    
COMMENTS

• Comments on Jessica Wilson, Metaphysical Emergence. Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association. January 2023.
• Comments on Kurstal, Irem, ‘Putting the Cart before the Horse’. Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association. January 2022.
• Comments on Paul, L. A. ‘Fundamental Subjective Categories’. Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association. April 2021.
• Comments on Jenann Ismael, ‘Closing the Circle: Physics and the Human Being.’ Lost in the Cosmos Conference, Indiana University, October 2019.
• Comments on Laura Reutsche, 'Do Pions Exist.' The Philosophy Mountain Workshop. March 2019.
• Comments on L.A. Paul, 'Reverse Engineering the Self'. The New England Metaphysics Workshop at Rhode Island College. November 2018.
• Comments on Jonah Nagashima, ‘Against Humean Compatibilism’. The Vancouver Summer Philosophy Conference. August 2018.
• Comments on Erica Schumener, ‘Explaining Identity and Distinctness’.  The Philosophy Mountain Workshop. March 2018.
• Comments on Barry Loewer, ‘Laws and Natural Properties’. Boulder Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science. University of Colorado Boulder. October 2017.
• Comments on Michael Townsen Hicks, ‘What Humean Laws Can’t Explain’. 3rd Society for the Metaphysics of Science Conference. Fordham University. October 2017.
• Comments on Benjamin Henke’s, ‘Nomological Contingency and Scientific Essentialism’. Pacific APA. April 2017.
• Comments on Craig Callender’s, ‘Explaining the Temporal Value Asymmetry’. The Philosophy Mountain Workshop. February 2016.
• Comments on Jessica Wilson’s ‘Quantum Metaphysical Indeterminacy’. The Ranch Metaphysics Conference. January 2016.
• Comments on Karen Lewis, ‘Elusive Counterfactuals’. The Philosophy Mountain Workshop. January 2014.

SEMINAR & READING GROUP VISITS

• Ned Markosian’s graduate seminar on Time at University of Massachusetts at Amherst for a discussion of my papers,  ‘Actualism without Presentism? Not by way of the Relativity Objection’, and ‘Actualism, Presentism and the Grounding Objection’. October 2022.
• Chris Meacham’s graduate seminar on Laws at University of Massachusetts at Amherst for a discussion of my papers,  ‘The Governing Conception of Laws’. October 2022.
• Barry Loewer's summer school on laws and chance at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. July 2022.
• Ted Sider's seminar on Philosophy of Time at Rutgers. May 2022.
• Hans Halvorsen’s undergraduate Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics course at Princeton for a discussion of my paper, ‘Against Radical Quantum Ontologies’. May 2020.
• Ned Markosian's graduate seminar at UMass for a discussion of my papers ‘Actualism, Presentism and Grounding’ and ‘Actualism without Presentism? Not by way of the Grounding Objection’. December 2019.
• Ned Markosian's undergraduate Metaphysics seminar at UMass for a discussion of my papers 'Mooreanism in Metaphysics from Mooreanism in Physics' and 'Laws and their Instances'. April 2019.
• Peter Lewis's senior seminar on quantum ontology at Dartmouth College for a discussion of my paper, 'Against Radical Quantum Ontologies'. November 2018.
• Adam Elga and Boris Kment's graduate seminar on chance and causation at Princeton University for a discussion of my papers, 'A Naturalist's Guide to Objective Chance', 'The Governing Conception of Laws' and 'The Explanatory Role Argument and the Metaphysics of Deterministic Chance. November 2018.
• Michaela McSweeney's graduate seminar on metaphysics at Boston University for a discussion of my papers 'Against Radical Quantum Ontologies' and 'A Naturalist's Guide to Objective Chance'. November 2017.
• The Rutgers Philosophy of Science Reading Group for a discussion of my paper 'A Naturalist's Guide to Objective Chance'. October 2017.
• Sam Levey's seminar at Dartmouth College for a discussion of my ‘Actualism, Presentism, and the Grounding Objection’. April 2016.
• Phil Bricker's graduate seminar at UMass Amherst for a discussion of my ‘Actualism without Presentism? Not by way of the Relativity Objection’. December 2016.

TEACHING
AT MOUNT HOLYOKE

• Logical Thought (PHIL 210),  Fall 2022 - Fall 2017.
• Metaphysics (PHIL 272), Fall 2019 & 2017.
• Science & Human Values (PHIL 104), Spring 2023, 2022, 2020 & 2019.
• Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics (PHIL 222), Spring 2023, Fall 2020, Spring 2019.
• Seminar: Public Philosophy (PHIL 350), Fall 2021.
• Seminar: Philosophy of Time (PHIL 350), Fall 2022, Spring 2022 & Fall 2018.
• Seminar: Radical Metaphysical Hypotheses (PHIL 350), Spring 2020.
• Honors Thesis Supervision (PHIL 395), 2022 - 2023, 2021 - 2022 (2), 2019 - 2020, 2018 - 2019.

    
AT BROWN

• Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics, Spring 2016, Fall 2013.
• Graduate Proseminar, Spring 2016.
• Undergraduate Independent Study, Spring 2016, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2013.
• Modern Science and Human Values, Fall 2015, Spring 2014.
• Graduate Seminar: Physics as Metaphysics, Fall 2015.
• Metaphysics, Fall 2014, Fall 2013.
• Philosophy of Time, Fall 2014.
• Graduate Seminar: Metaphysics of Chance, Spring 2014.

AT MIT

• Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics, Spring 2012.

SERVICE
TO THE PROFESSION

• Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy, area editor, 2022 -- ongoing.
• Program Committee, Seventh International Conference on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime, 2024.
• NSF Panelist, spring 2022 & fall 2022.
• Society for the Metaphysics of Science, council. 2021 -- ongoing.
• Summer Immersion Program in Philosophy at Brown (SIPP@Brown), co-founder and faculty director, 2015 — 2019.
• The Philosophy Mountain Workshop, co-founder and co-organizer, 2013 — ongoing.
• Society for the Metaphysics of Science, Pacific APA Group Meeting Organizer, 2017 — 2019.
• Referee: Philosophical Review, Mind, Nous, Philosophy of Science, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Philosophical Studies, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Erkenntnis, Analysis, Oxford University Press, Routledge Publishing, Berlin Academy.

AT MOUNT HOLYOKE

• Academic Priorities Committee, 2022 -- ongoing.
• Faculty Friday presenter, fall 2022.
• Teaching and Learning Initiative, Talking about Teaching presentation, spring 2022.
• First Year Seminar Video, 'Making and Breaking Arguments', co-written and recorded with Katia Vavova. 2020.
• Advisory Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid. 2019 - 2022. (Chair, Fall 2020 and 2021-2022.)
• AALAC Assembly, Mount Holyoke representative and presenter. 2019.
• HackHolyoke, guest presenter. 2019.
• Philosophy Department work in progress series, organizer. 2017 - 2020.
• Philosophy Department speaker series, co-organizer. 2018 - ongoing.

AT BROWN

• Physics and Philosophy Group, director, 2015 — 2017.
• Brown National Diversity Summit session on diversity in philosophy, Co-organizer, 2015.
• The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, departmental liaison, 2013 — 2017.
• Physics and Philosophy concentration advisor, 2013 — 2017.