Published Papers:
"Composition and the Logic of Location: An Argument for Regionalism" Mind (forthcoming), with Cody Gilmore. Penultimate draft here.
Ned Markosian (2014) has recently defended a new theory of composition, which he calls regionalism: some material objects xx compose something if and only if there is a material object located at the fusion of the locations of xx. Markosian argues that regionalism follows from what he calls the subregion theory of parthood (STP). Korman and Carmichael (2016) agree. We provide countermodels to show that regionalism does not follow from (STP), even together with fourteen potentially implicit background principles. We then show that regionalism does follow from five of those background principles together with (STP) and two additional principles connecting parthood and location, which we call (Overlap) and (Strong Delegation). While the additional principles are not uncontroversial, our conjecture is that many will find them attractive. We conclude by mentioning that (Strong Delegation) fills a previously unnoticed gap in the formal theory of location presented in Parsons (2007).
"Enduring through Gunk" Erkenntnis (2018), 83(4): 753-771.
According to one of the more popular endurantist packages on the market, a package I will call multilocational endurantism, enduring objects are exactly located at multiple instantaneous regions of spacetime. However, the world very well might turn out to be spatiotemporally gunky and spatiotemporal gunk (with some natural assumptions) entails that this package is false. The goal of this paper is to sketch a view which retains the spirit of multilocational endurantism while also recognizing the possibility of certain types of objects which endure through gunk.
"What is Mereological Harmony?" Synthese (2016), 193(6): 1949-1965. Penultimate draft here.
Say that mereological harmony is the view that there is at least some mirroring between the mereological structure of material objects and the mereological structure of their locations: each, in some way, mirrors the other. As it turns out, there is a confusing array of systems of harmony available to the substantivalist. In this paper, I attempt to bring some order to these systems. I explore some systems found in the literature, as well as some natural systems which haven't been discussed. Along the way, I explore a number of metaphysical consequences of the different systems of harmony. The paper ends with a roadmap of possible views for the substantivalist.
"Locating Gunky Water and Wine" Ratio (2014), 27(3): 306-315. Penultimate draft here.
Can material objects be weakly located at regions of spacetime and yet fail to be exactly located anywhere? In this paper, I discuss a case which, at least according to one interpretation, answers affirmatively: the case of blending gunky water and wine, in gunky space. Perhaps after such a blend, the water and wine aren't exactly located anywhere while being weakly located at the location of the blend and any region which overlaps it. I show that the case is interesting and complicated, and has consequences for some ideas found in papers by Daniel Nolan and Josh Parsons.
Work in Progress:
"Location"
"Vagueness and Location"
"Two Objections to the Harm-Based Account of the Wrongness of Killing"
"Knowledge, False Belief, and True Belief in the Vicinity"
"Does Supersubstantivalism Entail Perdurantism?"
"Composition and the Logic of Location: An Argument for Regionalism" Mind (forthcoming), with Cody Gilmore. Penultimate draft here.
Ned Markosian (2014) has recently defended a new theory of composition, which he calls regionalism: some material objects xx compose something if and only if there is a material object located at the fusion of the locations of xx. Markosian argues that regionalism follows from what he calls the subregion theory of parthood (STP). Korman and Carmichael (2016) agree. We provide countermodels to show that regionalism does not follow from (STP), even together with fourteen potentially implicit background principles. We then show that regionalism does follow from five of those background principles together with (STP) and two additional principles connecting parthood and location, which we call (Overlap) and (Strong Delegation). While the additional principles are not uncontroversial, our conjecture is that many will find them attractive. We conclude by mentioning that (Strong Delegation) fills a previously unnoticed gap in the formal theory of location presented in Parsons (2007).
"Enduring through Gunk" Erkenntnis (2018), 83(4): 753-771.
According to one of the more popular endurantist packages on the market, a package I will call multilocational endurantism, enduring objects are exactly located at multiple instantaneous regions of spacetime. However, the world very well might turn out to be spatiotemporally gunky and spatiotemporal gunk (with some natural assumptions) entails that this package is false. The goal of this paper is to sketch a view which retains the spirit of multilocational endurantism while also recognizing the possibility of certain types of objects which endure through gunk.
"What is Mereological Harmony?" Synthese (2016), 193(6): 1949-1965. Penultimate draft here.
Say that mereological harmony is the view that there is at least some mirroring between the mereological structure of material objects and the mereological structure of their locations: each, in some way, mirrors the other. As it turns out, there is a confusing array of systems of harmony available to the substantivalist. In this paper, I attempt to bring some order to these systems. I explore some systems found in the literature, as well as some natural systems which haven't been discussed. Along the way, I explore a number of metaphysical consequences of the different systems of harmony. The paper ends with a roadmap of possible views for the substantivalist.
"Locating Gunky Water and Wine" Ratio (2014), 27(3): 306-315. Penultimate draft here.
Can material objects be weakly located at regions of spacetime and yet fail to be exactly located anywhere? In this paper, I discuss a case which, at least according to one interpretation, answers affirmatively: the case of blending gunky water and wine, in gunky space. Perhaps after such a blend, the water and wine aren't exactly located anywhere while being weakly located at the location of the blend and any region which overlaps it. I show that the case is interesting and complicated, and has consequences for some ideas found in papers by Daniel Nolan and Josh Parsons.
Work in Progress:
"Location"
"Vagueness and Location"
"Two Objections to the Harm-Based Account of the Wrongness of Killing"
"Knowledge, False Belief, and True Belief in the Vicinity"
"Does Supersubstantivalism Entail Perdurantism?"