Andrew Bacon




I am a professor at the University of Southern California. My main interests are in metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of language and philosophical logic. I have written a book on vagueness, and most recently a book on higher-order logic aimed at philosophers.

Much of my recent work focuses on what it means for a property, relation (or operation of some other type) to be fundamental and what it means for one property, relation, etc. to be built out of, or metaphysically definable from, some others. See: Substitution Structures), Logical Combinatorialism and The Broadest Necessity.

Contact

E-mail: ab(remove me)acon@usc.edu
Address: Andrew Bacon, Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California, 3709 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Office: 224 Stonier Hall

Courses

Higher-order Logic
Intermediate Logic
Modal Logic
Issues in Space and Time

Books

Vagueness and Thought. Oxford University Press, 2018. [Description].

A Philosophical Introduction to Higher-order Logics. Routledge, 2023. [Description]. Front matter and Introduction.

Drafts

Could the truths of mathematics have been different?. Draft. Appendix. [Expand abstract].

The Algebra of Logical Atomism. (with Peter Fritz). Draft

Zermelian Extensibility. Draft. [Expand abstract].

The Logic of Logical Atomism. (with Peter Fritz). In progress

Metaphysical Definability. In Progress.

Counterfactuals in Thought. In progress

Models in philosophy. In progress

Subtructural type theories. E-mail for draft

Articles

(Links to penultimate drafts)

Logical Necessity. (with Kit Fine). For The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Logic

Classicism. For Higher-order Metaphysics. Eds. Fritz and Jones [Expand abstract].

Mathematical Modality. Journal of Philosophical Logic. [Expand abstract]

A Theory of Structured Propositions. Philosophical Review. [Expand abstract].

A Case for Higher-order Metaphysics. For Higher-order Metaphysics. [Expand abstract].

Actual Value in Decision Theory. Analysis. [Expand abstract].

The Logic of Logical Necessity. with Kit Fine. For Saul Kripke on Modal Logic[Expand abstract].

A Theory of Necessities. With Jin Zeng. Journal of Philosophical Logic. [Expand abstract].

Against Disquotation. With Jeremy Goodman. Australasion Journal of Philosophy.[Expand abstract].

Vagueness at every order. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. [Expand abstract].

Logical Combinatorialism. Philosophical Review. [Expand abstract].

Opacity and Paradox. For Modes of Truth: The unified approach to truth, modality, and paradox.[Expand abstract].

Counterfactuals, Infinity and Paradox. For Outstanding Contributions to Logic: Kit Fine. [Expand abstract].

Substitution Structures. Journal of Philosophical Logic.[Expand abstract].

Inductive Knowledge. Nous. [Expand abstract].

Some results on the limits of thought. (with Gabriel Uzquiano). Journal of Philosophical Logic. [Expand abstract].

Is Reality Fundamentally Qualitative?. Philosophical Studies. [Expand abstract].

The Broadest Necessity. Journal of Philosophical Logic. [Expand abstract].

The Logic of Opacity. (with Jeff Russell) Philosophical and Phenomenological Research. [Expand abstract].

Radical Anti-Disquotationalism. Philosophical Perspectives. [Expand abstract].

Relative Locations. Oxford Studies in Metaphysics. (Awarded the 2016 Marc Sanders Prize in Metaphysics.) . [Expand abstract].

Higher-Order Free Logic and the Prior-Kaplan Paradox (with John Hawthorne and Gabriel Uzquiano). In Williamson on Modality. [Expand abstract].

Scharp on Replacing Truth. Inquiry. [Expand abstract].

Tense and Relativity. Nous. [Expand abstract].

Can The Classical Logician Avoid The Revenge Paradoxes? Philosophical Review. [Expand abstract].

Stalnaker's Thesis in Context. The Review of Symbolic Logic. [Expand abstract]. (Reprinted in the Philosopher's Annual)

Paradoxes of Logical Equivalence and Identity. Topoi. [Expand abstract].

Giving Your Knowledge Half a Chance. Philosophical Studies. [Expand abstract].

Representing Counterparts. The Australasian Journal of Logic.[Expand abstract].

Quantificational Logic and Empty Names. Philosophers' Imprint. [Expand abstract]. (Awarded the APA Article prize for 2012 and 2013. Also reprinted in the Philosopher's Annual.)

A New Conditional for Naive Truth Theory. Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic. [Expand abstract].

Curry's Paradox and Omega-inconsistency. Studia Logica. [Expand abstract].

Non-classical Metatheory for Non-classical Logics. Journal of Philosophical Logic. [Expand abstract].

Non-wellfounded Mereology. (with Aaron J. Cotnoir) The Review of Symbolic Logic. [Expand abstract].

A Paradox for Supertask Decision Makers. Philosophical Studies. [Expand abstract].

Old, not currently in progress

In Defence of a Naive Conditional Epistemology. NOTE: [No longer in progress].

Stalnaker on the KK Principle. No longer in progress.

Selected Talks

Quantificational Logic and Empty Names. Handout. USC, March 2013

In Defence of a Naive Conditional Epistemology. Handout. UC Irvine, January 2013. University of Barcelona, June 2013

What A Revenge-Free Solution to the Semantic Paradoxes Can and Can't Look Like. Handout. USC, January 2012. Brown, February. Yale, February 2012. Munich, March 2012

Vagueness at Every Order. Handout. Barcelona, September 2010.

Other

Curriculum Vitae

Google Citations

PhilPapers