David S. Blanks Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University 301 YMCA Building, 4237 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843 (303) 941-1885 •
[email protected] • davidblanks.com Employment Lecturer, Philosophy, Texas A&M University, 2016 – Lecturer, Philosophy, Ohio State University, 2015 – 2016 Graduate Teaching Associate, Philosophy, Ohio State University, 2009 ‒ 2015 Education PhD (Philosophy), Ohio State University, 2015 Dissertation: The Metaphysics of Dispositions: A Case for Counterfactualism Committee: Ben Caplan (adviser), Declan Smithies, William Taschek MA (Philosophy), Northern Illinois University, 2008 MDiv (Biblical and Theological Studies), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006 BA Honors (Philosophy; Mathematics minor), University of Colorado at Denver, 2002 Areas of Specialization Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion Areas of Competence Ethics (normative and applied), Logic (up to intermediate), Philosophy of Science, Epistemology Dissertation Abstract I argue that counterfactualism, according to which dispositions are de re counterfactual properties (e.g., being an x such that x would break if x were struck), is superior to standard accounts of what dispositions are. Advocates of the standard views appeal to causal bases (e.g., in the case of a fragile object, the causal basis is the property of the object that would help causally bring about the object’s breaking, were it struck). According to the identity view, a disposition just is its causal basis; and, according to causal functionalism, a disposition is roughly the property having a causal basis. Many have it that properties like dispositions should be reduced to categorical properties. Examples of simple categorical properties include being square and having three parts. It is tempting to think that causal bases have something to do with reducing dispositions. This might lead one to think that the standard views have a reductive advantage over counterfactualism. However, I argue that the standard views have no reductive advantage over
Blanks, 2 counterfactualism and no other advantages either. Instead, it is counterfactualism that enjoys several advantages over the standard views, including the ability to account for baseless dispositions and better preserve the distinction between hypothetical and categorical properties. Presentations Talks “Dispositions, Bases and Reduction” Junior Metaphysics Workshop, Fort Worth, March 2016 “A Closer Look at Causal Bases and Its Implications for Reducing Dispositions” (Graduate Student Travel Award Recipient) Central APA, St. Louis, MO, 2015 “Justification, Truth and Bergmann’s Theory of Justification” The University of Iowa Graduate Philosophical Society Conference, 2008 Comments On Sam Cowling’s “How to Benacerraf a Goodman-Lewis” Eastern APA, Baltimore, MD, 2017 On Stephen Crowley, Chad Gonnerman and Michael O’Rourke’s “Cross-Disciplinary Research as a Platform for Philosophical Analysis” Central States Philosophical Association, 2014 Teaching Experience At Texas A&M Instructor Introduction to Philosophy (five times) Metaphysics Philosophy of Religion Theory of Knowledge At Ohio State Instructor Engineering Ethics (four times) Introduction to Ethics Introduction to Logic (twice) Introduction to Logic and Legal Reasoning (twice) Introduction to Philosophy (five times) Philosophy of Religion (twice) Probability, Data and Decision Making
Blanks, 3 Teaching Assistant Introduction to Philosophy Introduction to Symbolic Logic Probability, Data and Decision Making (twice) Religion and Science Graduate Coursework (at Ohio State unless otherwise indicated; ‘*’ denotes audit) Metaphysics David Lewis* (Kevin Scharp) Grounding* (Ben Caplan) Metaphysics (Thomas Kapitan, Northern Illinois) Metaphysics of Consciousness* (Declan Smithies) Modality (Thomas Kapitan, Northern Illinois) Modality* (David Sanson) Paradoxes: Grue, Quus, Gavagai (Kevin Scharp) Philosophy of Color (Wayne Wu) Philosophy of Mind (Carl Gillett, Northern Illinois) Propositions* (Ben Caplan) Ontology of Fiction* (Ben Caplan) Richard Rorty (Robert Kraut) Tense (David Sanson) Sider, Writing the Book of the World* (Kevin Scharp) Philosophy of Science Delusions and Mental Disorders (Richard Samuels) Explanation (Stewart Shapiro) Measurement Theory* (Kevin Scharp) Metaphysical and Scientific Explanation* (Chris Pincock) Philosophy of Science (Neil Tennant) Scientific Explanation* (Richard Samuels) Logic and Language Advanced Symbolic Logic (Stewart Shapiro) Contextualism and Relativism (Stewart Shapiro) Intermediate Logic (David Buller, Northern Illinois) Sense and Reference (Ben Caplan & David Sanson) Truth (Kevin Scharp) Epistemology A Priori Knowledge (William Taschek) Consciousness and Epistemology (Declan Smithies) Contextualism (Mylan Engel, Northern Illinois)
Blanks, 4 Internalism vs. Externalism, Testimony and Value of Knowledge (Jennifer Lackey, Northern Illinois) History and Value Theory 20th Century Analytic Philosophy (David Buller, Northern Illinois) Diagrams in Mathematics (Lisa Shabel) Leibniz (Sukjae Lee) Plato (Michael Gelvin, Northern Illinois) Moral Explanation (Nicholas Zangwill) Professional Affiliations American Philosophical Association Society of Christian Philosophers References Ben Caplan, Professor Department of Philosophy, Ohio State,
[email protected] Theodore George, Associate Professor and Department Chair Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University,
[email protected] David Manley, Associate Professor Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan,
[email protected] Declan Smithies, Associate Professor Department of Philosophy, Ohio State,
[email protected] William Taschek, Associate Professor Department of Philosophy, Ohio State,
[email protected] Piers Turner (Teaching Reference), Associate Professor Department of Philosophy, Ohio State,
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