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Email: <gwitmer> Office: 301
Griffin-Floyd Hall Phone: (352) 273-1830 Dept. Fax: (352)
392-5577 Department of Philosophy 330 Griffin-Floyd Hall University of Florida Gainesville,
FL 32611-8545 |
Associate Professor of
Philosophy Ph.D., Rutgers
University, 1997 Areas of research: Metaphysics, philosophy of mind,
physicalism, consciousness, a priori knowledge I joined the faculty at the University of Florida in
1997 after doing my doctoral degree at Rutgers. My research has been in
metaphysics and philosophy of mind, often focusing on the doctrine of
physicalism, the claim, roughly, that everything that exists is in some sense
ultimately physical in nature. I've also worked on such topics as the nature
of intrinsic properties, questions about mental causation, functionalist
treatments of the mind, and the role of conceptual analysis and/or a priori
knowledge in metaphysics generally. My interest in epistemology and
philosophy of religion has grown over the years and I might inflict my
musings on such on the academic community in the future. Recent graduate seminars have included courses on
metaphysical grounding, the history of analytic philosophy, physicalism, and
the problem of consciousness. By way of undergraduate teaching, I have
frequently taught courses in philosophy of religion, epistemology,
metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. I have also spent eight (very long)
years as Department Chair (2009-2017), an experience that may well qualify me
for martyrdom, though no divinity stands ready to recognize such sacrifices. If you are curious, you can check out my answers to the
PhilPapers Survey here.
If you are not curious, you can still do it, but it would be pretty silly of
you to do so. Faculty < Department < College < University Take note: "ItÕs been said in many
places before: A degree in the humanities isnÕt exactly marketable to
employers (less kind critics have called those degrees "useless"). But
thereÕs one humanities major whose graduates are doing quite well in the job
market—and itÕs philosophy majors." |
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Office
hours for Fall 2017: Mondays
12:00 PM - 3:00 PM And by
appointment Regular office hours are not held during holidays, spring break, or after the last day of classes (during reading days and exam week). Appointments may still be made during those times. If a class is cancelled on a particular day, any office hours on that day will be cancelled as well.
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Teaching
Fall 2017 PHI 2010 Introduction to
Philosophy (Online) Co-taught with Dr.
Elizabeth Palmer The patient and thorough exploration of philosophical questions is an ideal way to develop skills in clear writing and critical thinking. This course introduces the discipline of philosophy with a focus on developing those skills. Most of the semester is devoted three traditional issues: (a) What is knowledge? What can we know? (b) What is free will? Is there reason to think we don't have any free will? (c) What is morality all about? Are there facts about what is morally right and wrong? At the end of the semester, we will more briefly explore some famous questions about happiness and the meaning of life. The emphasis throughout is on writing clearly about such elusive questions and presenting good reasons to endorse one answer over another. The course provides 4000 words of credit towards the Writing Requirement at UF as well as satisfying the State Core General Education requirement for Humanities. Assignments include three argumentative essays, four short writing assignments, regular quizzes, and weekly activity assignments. Students are divided into smaller groups for the purpose of enabling both general discussion with each other and peer feedback on activity assignments. There are no major exams (no mid-term or final exam). No book purchases are required, as all readings are made available online through the Canvas system. This is an entirely online course. Because there is no regular meeting time during which we all meet to discuss the material, it is especially important to keep up with all assignments, to participate in discussion boards, and to ask for help when needed. While the structure of assignments is designed to ensure that students challenge themselves, it is also designed so as to minimize the amount of stress placed on any particular assignment. Success requires, instead, regular and serious effort throughout the semester. PHI 6506 Seminar in
Metaphysics: Physicalism A graduate research seminar focusing on recent controversial topics related to physicalism. After a basic review of the issues, specific recent controversis will be decided, determined in part by student interest. Selected Recent Publications "Platonistic Physicalism without Tears." Forthcoming in Journal of Consciousness Studies. "Physicality for Physicalists." In a special edition of Topoi edited by Andreas Elpidoru on
the topic of the characterization of physicalism. First
Online: 14 July, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/s11245-016-9415-y "Chudnoff on our Awareness of Abstract Objects." Florida Philosophical Review 16 (1): 105-116. Winter 2016. Online at http://philosophy.cah.ucf.edu/fpr/files/16_1/Witmer.pdf. "Physicalism and Metaphysical Naturalism." Oxford Bibliographies Online. 2015. "A Simple Theory of Intrinsicality." In Robert M. Francescotti, ed., Companion to Intrinsic Properties. Berlin: DeGruyter, 2014. Review of Robert Kirk, The Conceptual Link from Physical to Mental (Oxford University Press, 2013). In Analysis Reviews 0, 1-5 (2014). "Naturalism and Physicalism." Encyclopedia entry in Robert Barnard and Neil Manson, eds., The Bloomsbury Companion to Metaphysics, Bloomsbury Publishing (formerly Continuum), 2012. Review of Jens Kipper, A Two-Dimensionalist Guide to Conceptual Analysis (Ontos Verlag, 2012). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. January 11, 2013. "Stalking the Elusive Physicalist Thesis." Review of Daniel Stoljar, Physicalism (Routledge, 2010). Metascience 21: 71-75. 2012. Review of Jakob Howhy and Jesper Kallestrup, eds., Being Reduced: New Essays on Reduction, Explanation, and Causation (Oxford University Press, 2008). Mind 120 (479): 882-888. July 2011. Review of Timothy Williamson, The Philosophy of Philosophy (Blackwell, 2007). Metaphilosophy (2011) 42: 155-160. "Necessity, Identity, and A Priori Access." Philosophical Topics 35 (1-2): 241-263. Spring/Fall 2007. "How To Be A (Sort of) A Priori Physicalist." Philosophical Studies 131 (1): 185-225. October 2006. "Intrinsicality without Naturalness." Co-authored with William Butchard and Kelly Trogdon. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (2): 326-350. March 2005. Selected Recent or Upcoming Presentations Comments on Zach Blaesi, "Grounding, Physicalism, and the Explanatory Gap," to be presented in January 2018 at the Eastern Division, American Philosophical Association. Savannah, GA. Comments on Fermin Fulda, "Three Grades of Naturalistic Involvement," to be presented in October 2017 at the Society for the Metaphysics of Science. New York, NY. Comments on Todd Ganson, "What are Sensory Powers?" ¥ January 7, 2017. Eastern Division, American Philosophical Association. Baltimore, MD. Comments on Kenneth L. Pearce, "Counteressential Conditionals." ¥ March 3, 2016. Central Division, American Philosophical Association. Chicago, Illinois. "Physicality for Physicalists." ¥ Invited talk for the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. New York, NY. September 30, 2015. Comments on Andreas Elpidorou, "Defending Actualist Physicalism." ¥ September 18, 2015. First conference of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science. Newark, NJ. Comments on Louis deRosset, "The Scrying Game." ¥ April 3, 2015. Pacific Division, American Philosophical Association. Vancouver, British Columbia. Comments on Alyssa Ney, "Microphysical Causation and the Case for Physicalism." ¥ February 21, 2015. Central Division, American Philosophical Association. St. Louis, MO. "Physicalism Un-Blocked." ¥ December 28, 2014. Eastern Division, American Philosophical Association. Philadelphia, PA. ¥ November 16, 2013. Florida Philosophical Association. DeLand, FL. "Determinism and Intervention: Reply to Scott Sehon." Co-authored with Andreas Falke. ¥ November 4, 2014. Florida Philosophical Association. Tampa, FL. "Remarks on Chudnoff's Intuition." ¥ November 4, 2014. Part of a critical symposium on Elijah Chudnoff's book Intuition (Oxford University Press, 2013). Florida Philosophical Association. Tampa, FL. "A Priori Externalism and Privileged Access." ¥ February 8, 2014. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Charleston, SC. ¥ November 3, 2012. Florida Philosophical Association. Orlando, FL. Comments on Klaas Kraay, "Can God Satisfice?" ¥ February 22, 2013. Central Division, American Philosophical Association. New Orleans, LA. Comments on Douglas Keaton, "Exclusion, Yet Again." ¥ April 6, 2012. Pacific Division, American Philosophical Association. Seattle, WA. Comments on Justin Tiehen, "Grounding and Mental Causation." ¥ March 23, 2012. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Savannah, GA. Comments on Barbara Montero, "Must Physicalism Imply the Supervenience of the Mental on the Physical?" ¥ February 17 — March 2, 2012. Fourth Annual Consciousness Online conference. http://consciousnessonline.com/2012/02/17/must-physicalism-imply-the-supervienence-of-the-mental-on-the-physical/ |
