Andrew Bacon




I am an associate professor at the University of Southern California. My main interests are in metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of language and philosophical logic. I have recently completed a book on vagueness entitled "Vagueness and Thought", and I am presently writing 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. Underlying a lot of this work is an abstract analogy between languages and reality that is most naturally cashed out using category theory (spelled out in the paper Substitution Structures). My views on the metaphysical issues are outlined in the paper 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

Books

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

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

Drafts

[Expand abstracts]

Zermelian Extensibility. Under review [Abstract]. PDF

Mathematical Modality. Under review [Abstract]. PDF

Classicism. With Cian Dorr. For Higher-order Metaphysics. Eds. Peter Fritz and Nicholas Jones. Draft PDF.

Papers

[Expand abstracts]

A Theory of Structured Propositions. Philosophical Review. Forthcoming. [Abstract]. Draft PDF

A Case for Higher-order Metaphysics. For Higher-order Metaphysics. Eds. Peter Fritz and Nicholas Jones. [Abstract]. Draft PDF

Actual Value in Decision Theory. Analysis, Online first: September 2022. [Abstract]. PDF

The Logic of Logical Necessity. with Kit Fine. For Saul Kripke on Modal Logic eds. Romina Padro and Yale Weiss [Abstract]. Draft PDF

A Theory of Necessities. With Jin Zeng. Journal of Philosophical Logic. volume 51, pp.151-199 (2022). . [Abstract]. Draft PDF

Against Disquotation. With Jeremy Goodman. Australasion Journal of Philosophy. Forthcoming. [Abstract]. Draft PDF

Vagueness at every order. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 120, Issue 2, July 2020, Pages 165-201. [Abstract]. PDF

Logical Combinatorialism. Philosophical Review, (2020) 129 (4): 537-589. [Abstract]. PDF

Opacity and Paradox. For Modes of Truth: The unified approach to truth, modality, and paradox Carlo Nicolai and Johannes Stern (eds). (Please note that this not the final draft). [Abstract]. PDF

Counterfactuals, Infinity and Paradox. For Outstanding Contributions to Logic: Kit Fine. Federico Faroldi and Frederik Van de Putte (eds). (Please note that this not the final draft). [Abstract]. PDF

Substitution Structures. Journal of Philosophical Logic. 48, pages 1017-1075(2019). [Abstract]. PDF

Inductive Knowledge. Nous. 54 (2): 354-388. 2020. [Abstract]. PDF

Some results on the limits of thought. (with Gabriel Uzquiano). Journal of Philosophical Logic. 47 (6): 991-999. 2018. [Abstract]. PDF

Is Reality Fundamentally Qualitative?. Philosophical Studies. 176 (1): 259-295. 2019. [Abstract]. PDF

The Broadest Necessity. Journal of Philosophical Logic. October 2018, Volume 47, Issue 5, pp 733-783. [Abstract]. PDF

The Logic of Opacity. (with Jeff Russell) Philosophical and Phenomenological Research. 2019, 99 (1):81-114.. [Abstract]. PDF

Radical Anti-Disquotationalism. Philosophical Perspectives. 2018. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF

Relative Locations. Oxford Studies in Metaphysics. Volume 11, 2018. (Awarded the 2016 Marc Sanders Prize in Metaphysics.) . [Abstract]. Please note that the following is not the final draft: PDF

Higher-Order Free Logic and the Prior-Kaplan Paradox (with John Hawthorne and Gabriel Uzquiano). In Williamson on Modality, special issue of Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Routledge 2017, Juhani Yli-Vakkuri and Mark McCullagh (eds.) . [Abstract]. Penultimate draft draft: PDF

Scharp on Replacing Truth. Inquiry. Volume 50, 2017 - Issue 6. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF

Tense and Relativity. Nous. Volume52, Issue 3. September 2018. Pages 667-696 . [Abstract].Penultimate draft: PDF

Can The Classical Logician Avoid The Revenge Paradoxes? Philosophical Review. Volume 124, Number 3: 299-352 . [Abstract].Penultimate draft: PDF

Stalnaker's Thesis in Context. The Review of Symbolic Logic. March 2015, Volume 8, Number 1, pp131-163. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF. (Reprinted in the Philosopher's Annual)

Paradoxes of Logical Equivalence and Identity. Topoi. April 2015, Volume 34, Issue 1, pp 89-98. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF

Giving Your Knowledge Half a Chance. Philosophical Studies. November 2014, Volume 171, Issue 2, pp 373-397. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF

Representing Counterparts. The Australasian Journal of Logic. Vol 11, Number 2, November 2014. [Abstract]. PDF

Quantificational Logic and Empty Names. Philosophers' Imprint. Volume 13, Number 24, December 2013. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF. (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. Volume 54, Number 1 (2013), 87-104. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF

Curry's Paradox and Omega-inconsistency. Studia Logica. Volume 101, Issue 1, February 2013, pp 1-9. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF

Non-classical Metatheory for Non-classical Logics. Journal of Philosophical Logic. April 2013, Volume 42, Issue 2, pp 335-355. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft PDF

Non-wellfounded Mereology. (with Aaron J. Cotnoir) The Review of Symbolic Logic. Volume 5, Issue 02, June 2012, pp 187-204. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF

A Paradox for Supertask Decision Makers. Philosophical Studies: Volume 153, Issue 2 (2011), Page 307. [Abstract]. Penultimate draft: PDF

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