I'm interested in several areas more or less centering on the interface between ontology and logic (in a broad sense); in other words, I want to know what kinds of stuff there are and how to speak clearly about them. This brings me to issues in general Metaphysics, of course, but also in the Philosophy of Mind (especially Naturalism debates and the relation between scientific and common-sense psychology), Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Language, Philosophical Logic, Philosophy of Mathematics, Meta-Ethics, and Aesthetics (especially art's relation to other forms of expression and to criticism). I have been most influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein (early and late), Hilary Putnam, and David Hume.

Other Interests / Quotes / Links / Photos

I have long-standing interests in music, film, and comedy. I get at least as much intellectual stimulation from art as from philosophy, but art is even more difficult to talk about clearly. My favorite musical artists include: King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Johann Sebastian Bach, Magma, Megadeth, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. My favorite films include: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Roadhouse, Lost in Translation, They Live, and The Shining. The world's greatest comedy programs include: Monty Python's Flying Circus, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast.

• "A main source of our failure to understand is that we do not command a clear view of the use of our words.—Our grammar is lacking this sort of perspicuity. A perspicuous representation produces just that understanding which consists in 'seeing connexions'." (Ludwig Wittgenstein)
• "As philosophers we are peculiarly tolerant of systematic malapropism, and practiced at interpreting the result." (Donald Davidson)
• "We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless." (Oscar Wilde)