My primary area of interest is in metaphysics. In my dissertation, I explore the intersection of metaphysics and the social sciences. I am particularly interested in addressing the following question: What are organized social groups (e.g., tennis teams, climbing clubs, and families)? Part of my dissertation is a critical survey of prominent theories of the natures of these things. In the rest of it, I put forth and defend a theory of organized social groups as composite wholes. In some of my other work, I focus on topics such as epistemic reasons for omitting objects from our ontology, modality and religion, and the utilization of non-classical logic to tackle philosophical puzzles.
Publications
Memberless Social Groups. Forthcoming in Synthese.
I argue that we should not accept the possibility of memberless social groups.
Works in Progress
Below are some of my works in progress. Select drafts and longer abstracts are available upon request.
On Organized Social Groups and Their Persistence Conditions
I argue that none of the prominent metaphysical accounts of organized social groups adequately captures the persistence conditions of organized social groups.
Organized Social Groups as Composite Wholes
I put forth a novel account of organized social groups as composite wholes that may vary in their constitutions.
Desert Landscapes and Criteria of Identity
I examine Quine’s ontological commitments prior to Theories and Things and argue that his ontology is inconsistent with the manner by which he arrives at it.
A Problematic Approach to Resolving the Sorites Paradox
I argue that a popular approach to resolving the sorites paradox relies on the very pattern of inference that it explicitly rejects.
Hume, Causation, and the Contiguity Criterion (with Rebecca Chan)
We examine Hume’s definitions of ’cause’ in A Treatise of Human Nature and argue that his claim that a cause and its effect must be contiguous is in tension with his other commitments regarding causation.
Can Modal Realists Be Theists?
I argue that modal realism and theism are incompatible.
Jason Hanschmann 