Stephen Yablo

Department of Linguistics & Philosophy, MIT
Cambridge, MA 02139

email: yablo@mit.edu
phone: 617-258-0740

EDUCATION

Ph. D                          1986 UC, Berkeley (Philosophy)
½ MA                         1980 University of Pune, India (Philosophy)
B.Sc.                           1979 University of Toronto (Math & Philosophy)

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

2005-2008                Chair, Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT    

2004-2005                Head of Philosophy Section, MIT

2001-20XX                Full Professor, Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT
1998-2001                Assoc. Professor, Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT
1992-1998                Assoc. Professsor, Philosophy, U of Michigan
1991-1992                Visiting Asst Professor, Philosophy, U of Toronto
1986-1992                Asst Professor, Philosophy, U of Michigan

 

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophical Logic

AREAS OF COMPETENCE

Epistemology, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mathematics

COURSES TAUGHT

 

Lower Division

Introduction to Philosophy

Symbolic Logic

Paradox & Infinity

Relativism, Reason, & Reality

 

Upper Division

Metaphysics

Philosophy of Logic

Knowledge & Reality

Mathematical Logic

Realism & Nominalism

Metaphor & Ontology

Modal Logic

Topics in the Philosophy of Science

Philosophy of Mathematics

 

Graduate Level

Response-Dependent Concepts

Causation

De Re Modality

Metaphysics of Mind

Objects & Objectivity

Truth, Being, & All That

Things, Properties, & All That
Fiction & Presupposition

Aboutness

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

 IN PRINT

• “Soames on Kripke,”  Philosophical Studies (2007)
• "Non-Catastrophic Presupposition Failure," in A. Byrne and J. Thomson, Content and Modality (Oxford, 2006)
• "No Fool's Cold: Notes on Illusions of Possibility," in M. Garcia-Carpintero and J. Macia, ed. Two Dimensional Semantics (Oxford, 2006)
• "Circularity and Paradox," in T. Bolander, V. F. Hendricks, and S. A. Pedersen, ed. Self-Reference (CSLI Press, 2006)
• "The Myth of the Seven," in M. Kalderon, ed. Fictionalism in Metaphysics (Oxford, 2005)
• "Advertisement for a Sketch of an Outline of a Proto-Theory of Causation," in John Collins, Ned Hall, and L.A. Paul (eds.)  Causation and Counterfactuals (MIT Press, 2004)
• “Almog on Descartes’s Mind and Body,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (2005), p.  70
• "New Grounds for Naive Truth Theory," in J.C. Beall (ed.), Liars and Heaps (OUP, 2004)
• "Causal Relevance," in Philosophical Issues 13 (2003)
• "Tables Shmables," review of D. Wiggins, Sameness and Substance Renewed , in Times Literary Supplement (2003)
• " De Facto Dependence," Journal of Philosophy 99 (2002), pp. 130-148
• "Abstract Objects: A Case Study," in Andrea Bottani,  Massimiliano Carrara, and Pierdaniele Giaretta (ed.) Individuals, essence and identity: Themes of analytic metaphysics (Kluwer,  2002)
• "Go Figure: A Path Through Fictionalism," Midwest Studies in Philosophy 25 (2002)
• "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda," T. Gendler and J. Hawthorne, ed. Conceivability and Possibility (OUP, 2001)
• (with Agustin Rayo) "Nominalism Through De-Nominalization," Nous (2000)
• "A Paradox of Existence," in T. Hofweber, ed. Empty Names, Fiction and the Puzzle of Existence (CSLI,  2000)
• "Apriority & Existence," in P. Boghossian and C. Peacocke, ed. New Essays on the A Priori (OUP, 2000)
• "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Thinkers," Proceedings of the 20th World Congress of Philosophy , vol. 11 (2000)
• "Superproportionality & Mind-Body Relations," Theoria (2000)
• "A Reply to New Zeno," in Analysis 60 (2000), pp. 148-151
• "Red, Bitter, Best," critical notice of F. Jackson, From Metaphysics to Ethics, in Philosophical Books 41 (2000)
• "Textbook Kripkeanism & the Open Texture of Concepts," in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 81 (2000), pp. 98-122
• "Intrinsicness," Philosophical Topics 26 (officially 1998, really 2000), pp. 479-504
• "Self-Knowledge & Semantic Luck: Comments on Boghossian," in Philosophical Issues (1999)
• "Concepts & Consciousness: Comments on Chalmers, The Conscious Mind," in Philosophy & Phenomenological Research (1999)
• "The Strange Thing About the Figure in the Bathhouse" (not my title!!), review of A. Thomasson, Fiction & Metaphysics , Times Literary Supplement (1999)
• "Essentialism," in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998)
• "Does Ontology Rest on a Mistake?" Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supp. Volume 72 (1998), pp. 229-261
• "Wide Causation," Philosophical Perspectives 11 (1997), pp. 251-281
• "How in the World?" Philosophical Topics 24 (1996), pp. 255-286
• "Singling out Properties," Philosophical Perspectives 9 (1995), pp. 477-502
• "Definitions, Consistent and Inconsistent," Philosophical Studies 72 (1993), Special Issue on Definition, pp. 147-175
• "Hop, Skip and Jump: The Agonistic Conception of Truth," Philosophical Perspectives 7 (1993), pp. 371-396
• "Paradox without Self-Reference," Analysis 53 (1993), pp. 251-2
• "Is Conceivability a Guide to Possibility?" Philosophy & Phenomenological Research 53 (1993), pp. 1-42
• "Review of Alan Sidelle, Necessity, Essence, and Individuation ," Philosophical Review 101 (1992), pp. 878-881
• "Mental Causation," Philosophical Review 101 (1992), pp. 245-280, reprinted in Philosopher's Annual XV (1992) and David Chalmers, ed. Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings (Oxford 2002)
• "Cause and Essence," Synthese 93 (1992), pp. 403-449
• "The Real Distinction Between Mind and Body," Canadian Journal of Philosophy, supp. vol. 16 (1990), pp. 149-201
• "Truth, Definite Truth, and Paradox" (abstract of comments on Vann McGee), Journal of Philosophy 86 (1989), pp. 539-541
• "Review of Graeme Forbes, The Metaphysics of Modality ," Journal of Philosophy 85 (1988), pp. 329-337
• "Identity, Essence, and Indiscernibility," Journal of Philosophy 84 (1987), pp. 293-314, reprinted in Philosopher's Annual X (1987), and Jaegwon Kim & Ernie Sosa, ed., Metaphysics: An Anthology (Blackwell, 1999)
• "Truth and Reflection," Journal of Philosophical Logic 14 (1985), pp. 297-349
• "Grounding, Dependence, and Paradox," Journal of Philosophical Logic 11 (1982), pp. 117-137

TO APPEAR

• (with Gideon Rosen) "Solving Caesar, with Metaphysics" in a collection of papers on the work of Crispin Wright edited by Alexander Miller
• "Content Carving," in a volume for Hans Herzberger edited by Achille Varzi
• "Must Existence-Questions Have Answers?," in an Oxford volume on metaontology edited by David Chalmers, David Manley, and Ryan Wasserman
• “A Problem about Permission & Possibility,” in a volume on epistemic modals ed. by Andy Egan

WORK IN PROGRESS

• “Unimaginability”
• “What is Left Over?”
• “Partial Truth”
• "Aboutness"
• "Beyond Rigidification" 
• “Parts of Contents”
• "Causation As A Disposition To Lose E On Losing C”

 

TALKS

• ???, Metaontology Conference, Barcelona (June 2008)
• ???, NYU (April 2008)
• ???, Princeton University, Hempel Lectures (March 2008)
• ???, U of Alberta, Edmonton (November  2007)
• ???, U of Alberta, Calgary (November  2007)
• ???, University of Michigan, Nelson Visitor (September 2007)
• “Make Believe & Presupposition,”  Mimesis, MB, & Metaphysics Conference, Leeds (June 2007)
• "Truth & Aboutness,” Logica Conference, Hejnice, Czech Republic (June 2007)
• "Unexplained Modal Illusions," Pacific APA Session on Materialism after Kripke (April 2007)
• “Unimaginability,” John Dewey Memorial Lecture, U of Vermont (March 2007)
• "Objective Mootness: A Metaontological Dialogue,"  University of Saskatchewan (March 2007)
• "Objective Mootness: A Metaontological Dialogue,"  Syracuse University (February 2007)
• "Objective Mootness: A Metaontological Dialogue," Auburn (February 2007)
• "What is Left Over," U of Virginia (October 2006)
• "That May Be,"  Arche Conference on Modality (June 2006)
• "Semantic Arithmetic,"  UCSB Conference on Advances in the Theory of Meaning (February 2006)
• "Limits to Imagination," University of Houston (February 2006)
• "Causation As A Disposition To Lose E On Losing C,"  Bristol Conference on Causation and Dispositions (December 2005)
• "Non-Catastrophic Presupposition Failure," Brown (September 2005)
• "Non-Catastrophic Presupposition Failure," AAUP Meetings (July 2005)
• "No Fool's Cold," ANU Conference on Philosophical Methodology (July 2005)
• "Must Existence-Questions Have Answers?,"  ANU Conference on Metaontology (July 2005)
• "Must Existence-Questions Have Answers?,"  U of London (Jacobsen Lecture) (June 2, 2005)
• "Non-Catastrophic Presupposition Failure," Oxford (Evans Memorial Lecture) (May 31, 2005)
• "Failsafe Presuppositions & the Project of Ontology," U Mass Amherst (April 29, 2005)
• "Existential Presupposition," Cornell (March 11, 2005)
• "Metaontology," APA Session on Metaontology, with Eli Hirsch, Karen Bennett (December 30, 2004)
• "Existential Presupposition,"  UCSD (November 17-22, 2004)
• "Existential Presupposition," Brown (November 5, 2004)
• "Existential Presupposition", U of Pennsylvania (October 29, 2004)
• "Non-Catastrophic Presupposition Failure," Chapel Hill Colloquium (October 1, 2004)
• "Illusions of Possibility," Jean Nicod Institute (May 17, 2004)
• "Existential Presupposition," Oxford (May 14, 2004)
• "How to Win Friends...," Pitt/CMU Graduate Student Conference (March 20, 2004)
• "How to Win Friends...," Rocky Mountain Philosophy Conference (February 20, 2004)
• "How to Win Friends...," Indiana (December 5, 2003)
• "How to Win Friends...," UC Davis (November 21, 2003)
• "How to Win Friends...," UC Berkeley (November 20, 2003)
• "How to Win Friends...," U Kentucky  (October 24, 2003)
• "How to Win Friends & Influence Truth-Value Without Really Being,"  Yale (October 2, 2003)
• "Beyond Rigidification," Barcelona Conference on Predicate Reference (2003)
• "Beyond Rigidification," Ohio State (2003)
• Comments on Williamson, Knowledge and Its Limits, Rutgers Epistemology Conference (2003)
• "Why I Am Not a Nominalist," NYU Seminar on Factually Defective Discourse (2003)
• "Beyond Rigidification," Brown University (2003)
• "Content Carving for Fun and Profit," UC Irvine Logic Group (2003)
• Comments on Field, "Semantic Paradoxes & Paradoxes of Vagueness," Liars & Heaps Conference, UConn (2002)
• "Content Carving: Some Ways,"  Arche Conference in Foundations of Mathematics, St Andrews (2002)
• "Content Carving for Fun and Profit," UC Irvine Logic Group (2002)
• "What's Circularity Got To Do With It?" Roskilde Conference on Self-Reference (2002)
• "Illusions of Possibility," Glasgow University (2002)
• "De Facto Dependence," Edinburgh University (2002)
• "Illusions of Possibility," Greensboro Conference on Conceivability (2002)
• "De Facto Dependence," Stanford University (2002)
• "De Facto Dependence,"Princeton University (2001)
• "De Facto Dependence,"University of Vermont (2001)
• "De Facto Dependence," UCLA (2001)
• "Grokking Pain," UCLA (2001)
• "The Myth of the Seven," Hendrix College (2001)
• "De Facto Dependence,"University of Toronto (2000)
• "The Myth of the Seven," Pacific Division APA Meetings (2000)
• "Causal Relevance: Mental, Moral, and Epistemic," Veracruz, SOFIA Conference on Metaphysics of Mind (2001)
• "Causal Relevance: Mental, Moral, and Epistemic,"  University College, London (2001)
• "The Myth of the Seven," Bergamo Conference on Analytic Metaphysics (2000)
• "The Myth of the Seven," Eastern Division APA Meetings (2000)
• "Go Figure: A Path Through Fictionalism," E astern Division APA Meetings (2000)
• "Abstract Objects: A Case Study," Oaxaca, SOFIA Conference on Realism and Relativism (2000)
• "Truth and Being," 3 lectures at University of Padua (2000)
• "Causation and Consciousness," 3 lectures at University of Bologna (2000)
• "Grokking Pain," University of Barcelona (2000)
• "Modal Rationalism and Logical Empiricism: Some Similarities,"  NYU Consciousness Seminar (2000)
• "Modal Rationalism and Logical Empiricism: Some Similarities,"  SUNY Buffalo Conference on Consciousness (1999)
• "The Myth of the Seven," Tufts University Seminar on Realism (1999)
• "A Paradox of Existence," Central Division APA Meetings (1999)
• "A Paradox of Existence," Southern Methodist University (1999)
• "A Paradox of Existence," University of Colorado (1999)
• "A Paradox of Existence," Brandeis University (1999)
• "A Paradox of Existence," Harvard University (1999)
• "A Paradox of Existence," Brown University Graduate Student Conference (1999)
• "A Paradox of Existence," University of Connecticut (1998)
• "A Paradox of Existence," Syracuse University (1998)
• "A Paradox of Existence," CSLI (1998)
• "A Paradox of Existence," Columbia University (1998)
• "A Paradox of Existence," Mighty Metaphysical Mayhem, Notre Dame University (1998)