D. Gene Witmer

 

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1997

 

Areas of research:  Metaphysics, philosophy of mind, physicalism, consciousness, a priori knowledge

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

I joined the faculty at the University of Florida in 1997 after completing my doctorate at Rutgers University.  My research has been in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, focusing mostly 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 may aim to publish in those areas as well. My main project in the foreseeable future, however, is to complete a book defending physicalism.

 

Recent graduate seminars have included courses in epistemology, physicalism, and the problem of consciousness. By way of undergraduate teaching, I have often taught the philosophy major's required course in epistemology (PHI3300) as well as the elective course in philosophy of religion (PHI3700).  Other undergraduate courses I teach include Philosophy of Mind (PHI4320), Metaphysics (PHI3500), and Analytic Philosophy (PHP4784), as well as a bit of Intro to Philosophy (PHI2010) and Ethical Theory (PHI4662). I am presently the faculty advisor for UF's Gator Freethought society.

 

 

Current courses

 

PHI 4320 Philosophy of Mind.

PHI 5325 Philosophy of Mind (Graduate).

 

 

Selected Publications

 

"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.

 

"Multiple Realizability and Psychological Laws:  Evaluating Kim's Challenge."  In Physicalism and Mental Causation: The Metaphysics of Mind and Action.  Sven Walter and Heinz-Dieter Heckmann.  Imprint Academic Publishers, UK.  2003.  Pages 59-84.

 

"Functionalism and Causal Exclusion."  Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 84 (2): 198-214.  June 2003.

 

"DuprŽ's Anti-Essentialist Objection to Reductionism."  The Philosophical Quarterly 53 (211):  181-200.  April 2003.

 

"Sufficiency Claims and Physicalism:  A Formulation."  In Carl Gillett and Barry Loewer, eds., Physicalism and Its Discontents.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.  2001.  Pages 57-73.

 

"Experience, Appearance, and Hidden Features."  PSYCHE 7(09), July 2001.  http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v7/psyche-7-09-witmer.html

 

"Locating the Overdetermination Problem."  The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 51:  273-286.  June 2000.

 

Selected Recent Presentations

 

"Realization and the Promise of Explanatory Import."  November 11, 2007, Florida Philosophical Association (Tallahassee, Florida) and April 6, 2007, Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology (Atlanta, Georgia).

 

"Realization,  Higher Order Properties, and Explanatory Import."  October 14, 2006.  At the conference on Mind, Body and Realization, held at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania.

 

Comments on Alyssa Ney: "Physicalism as an Attitude." April 14, 2006.  Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology.  Charleston, South Carolina.

 

Comments on William Rottschaefer: "The Many Places of Knowledge in Nature:  Reflections on Hilary Kornblith's Knowledge and Its Place in Nature."  March 25, 2006. Pacific Division, American Philosophical Association.  Portland, Oregon.

 

Comments on Barry Loewer: "Why Is There Anything Except Physics?"  October 2004.  Kline Colloquium on Physicalism.  University of Missouri at Columbia.

 

Comments on Andrew Melnyk: "Rea on Naturalism."  April 9, 2004.  Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

"The Shortcut Argument Against Coincident Objects."  November 14 2003.  Florida Philosophical Association, St. Petersburg, Florida.

 

"Functionalism, Causation, and the Bait and Switch Problem."  October 16-17, 2003.  Central States Philosophical Association.  Chicago, Illinois.  Also November 9, 2001.  Florida Philosophical Association.  Deland, Florida.

 

"The Epistemic Conceivability Argument Against Physicalism."  April 2002.  Central Division, American Philosophical Association.  Chicago, Illinois.  Also:  November 10, 2000.  Florida Philosophical Association.  Sarasota, Florida.

 

Current projects

 

"Realization and the Promise of Explanatory Import."

"Necessity, Identity, and A Priori Access."

Demanding Physicalism (book project)

 

Faculty < Department < College < University

 

Email:  <gwitmer>

Office:  330B 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

 

Office hours for Fall 2009:

Wednesdays 3:00-5:00 PM

Fridays 3:00-5:00 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, the office hours on that day will be cancelled as well.