me

What's New

My law review article with Doug Husak got mentioned (in dissent) by Justice Kennedy in a Supreme Court decision,
video of me interviewed by Robert Kuhn in Copenhagen is out, I ran a workshop on Time, Physics & Philosophy, and this year I'm giving talks in Mexico City, the PSA, Munich, UCSD, Arizona, Barcelona, Rome, NY (World Science Festival) and Santa Cruz.

This academic year I'm teaching PHIL 115, PHIL 14, PHIL 148 and a graduate seminar on time.  Then I go to the University of Sydney for two months on an International Collaboration Award.

About Me

I'm a Professor of Philosophy at UCSD and have been here since 2001. Previously I was in the Department of Philosophy, Logic & Scientific Method at the London School of Economics. Before that I obtained my Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1997.

My main areas of research are:

I also have teaching interests in environmental ethics, among other topics.

I'm particularly interested in the intersection of time and modern science, the interpretation of quantum mechanics, the foundations of statistical mechanics, the metaphysics of science, and various issues about spacetime. Lately I've been working on a large book — tentatively entitled What Makes Time Special — that tries to show how our manifest image of time might arise in creatures embedded in a world like ours. I've also been working on phase transitions, the equivalence principle, the nature of the quantum state, and various temporal value asymmetries. I've published in philosophy, physics, and law journals — here is a (probably out-of-date) CV.  When not working or with family, I'm probably playing basketball or standup paddleboard racing.

Here are some links relevant to our very active philphysics community: Southern California Philosophy of Physics Reading Group, the UCSD Philosophy of Physics Research Group and the UCSD Philosophy of Science Reading Group.