The Causal Argument Against Representationalism The central argument against perceptual representationalism in my recent聽The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience聽was that representational聽states聽aren鈥檛 causally efficacious in the way that perceptual states are. In this talk I shall explore some further issues related to this argument, including the general question of the causal significance of representational states, and the…
Abstract: What is it to engage in moral inquiry? The received wisdom is that it is to answer moral questions 鈥� that is, questions about what we ought to do. Someone has moral expertise to the extent to which she is reliable at arriving at true answers to those questions. Philosophical disagreements have focused on…
Abstract: An a priori lie is a lie that conflicts with an a priori truth. Rather sportingly, the liar leaves himself open to refutation by armchair methods such as calculation. My thesis is that Immanuel Kant precludes the existence of a priori lies. For asserting a proposition requires raising a rational expectation of its truth.…
In Defence of Individual Rationality: Common-sense (or folk) psychology holds that (generally) we do what we do for the reasons we have. This common-sense approach is embodied in claims like 鈥淚 went to the kitchen because I wanted a drink鈥� or 鈥淪he took a coat because she thought it might rain and hoped to…
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