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Abstract: This talk develops ontological pluralism about non-being, the view that there are multiple ways, kinds, or modes of non-being. I suggest that the view is both more plausible and defensible than it first seems, and that it has many useful applications across a wide variety of metaphysical and explanatory problems. After drawing out the relationship…

Title: How Serious is Serious Actualism? Abstract: Serious Actualism is a view which many find compelling: it is impossible for an object to exemplify a property and not exist. In this talk, I aim to do two things. First, I argue that there are compelling reasons for thinking that there is a property of nonexistence and…

Title: Essence, Potentiality, and Modality Abstract: According to essentialism, metaphysical modality is founded in the essences of things, where the essence of a thing is roughly akin to its real definition. According to potentialism (also known as dispositionalism), metaphysical modality is founded in the potentialities of things, where a potentiality is roughly the generalized notion of a disposition. Essentialism and…

Title: Indicative Conditionals: Probabilities and Relevance Abstract: Adams’ Thesis claims that the acceptability of a simple indicative conditional equals the corresponding conditional probability. The Thesis is widely endorsed, but arguably false and refuted by empirical research. To fix it, we submit, we need a relevance constraint: we accept a simple conditional ‘If Ï•, then ψ’ to the extent…

Title: “Good News for the Subregion Theory of Parthood” Abstract: The Subregion Theory of Parthood is probably the most intuitive theory of parthood. It says that whatever is exactly located at a subregion of your exact location is part of you, and nothing else is. Mutatis mutandisfor all material objects. I defend this view from…

Title: Modeling contingently existing propositions (and other intensions). Abstract: The traditional Montagovian framework for the analysis of intensional language uses constant domain models. However, in other areas of philosophy which employ modal logic, it is much more common to use variable domain models which permit various forms of contingent existence. Part of the difficulty in…