Ryan Wasserman
Biographic Data
| ID | 1046737 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ryan Wasserman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ryan |
| FAMILY NAME | Wasserman |
| SIGNATURE | WASSERMAN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Washington University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2202-2131 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Intrinsic Properties and the Problem of “Other Things”
Intrinsic properties are those which cannot be had or lacked in virtue of other things. Being a square is intrinsic, in this sense, whereas being next to a square is not. But what, exactly, counts as an “other thing” in this context? As it turns out, this is a surprisingly difficult question. I provide a critical assessment of three existing proposals (in terms of identity, mereology, and ontology), before developing my own, alternative account. …
Time Travel, Freedom, and Incompatibilism
Lessons from Grandfather
Assume that, even with a time machine, Tim does not have the ability to travel to the past and kill Grandfather. Why would that be? And what are the implications for traditional debates about freedom? We argue that there are at least two satisfactory explanations for why Tim cannot kill Grandfather. First, if an agent’s behavior at time t is causally dependent on fact F, then the agent cannot perform an action (at t) that would require F to have …
The Independence Solution to the Problem of Theological Fatalism
Paradoxes of Identity
Chapter 6 looks at some of the puzzles that arise in cases where time travelers visit their former (or future) selves. Section 1 presents the main paradox of self-visitation and draws a guiding analogy to the traditional problem of change. Section 2 introduces the perdurantist theories of persistence and change, and develops a corresponding account of self-visitation. Section 3 explains the endurantist views of persistence and change, and explore…
Paradoxes of Time Travel
Vagueness and the Laws of Metaphysics
This is a paper about the nature of metaphysical laws and their relation to the phenomenon of vagueness. Metaphysical laws are introduced as analogous to natural laws, and metaphysical indeterminism is modeled on causal indeterminacy. This kind of indeterminacy is then put to work in developing a novel theory of vagueness and a solution to the sorites paradox
Dispositions and Generics: Dispositions and Generics
Teaching & Learning Guide for: The Problem of Change
This guide accompanies the following article: Ryan Wasserman, ‘The Problem of Change’, Philosophy Compass 1/1 (2006): 1–10, doi: 10.1111/j.1747‐9991.2005.00012.x Author’s Introduction Our world is a world of change. Children are born and grow into adults. Material possessions rust and decay with age and ultimately perish. Yet scepticism about change is as old as philosophy itself. Heraclitus, for example, argued that nothing could survive the rep…
Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology
Metaphysics asks questions about existence: for example, do numbers really exist? Metametaphysics asks questions about metaphysics: for example, do its questions have determinate answers? If so, are these answers deep and important, or are they merely a matter of how we use words? What is the proper methodology for their resolution? These questions have received a heightened degree of attention lately with new varieties of ontological deflationis…
The Power of Logic
Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology
On Linking Dispositions and Conditionals
Analyses of dispositional ascriptions in terms of conditional statements famously confront the problems of finks and masks. We argue that conditional analyses of dispositions, even those tailored to avoid.nks and masks, face five further problems. These are the problems of: (i) Achilles' heels, (ii) accidental closeness, (iii) comparatives, (iv) explaining context sensitivity, and (v) absent stimulus conditions. We conclude by offering a proposal…
A Gradable Approach to Dispositions
Previous theories of the relationship between dispositions and conditionals are unable to account for the fact that dispositions come in degrees. We propose a fix for this problem which has the added benefit of avoiding the familiar problems of finks and masks
The Future Similarity Objection Revisited
The Problem of Change
The Eleatic philosophers argued that it was impossible for anything to change, since that would require something to differ from itself. Although this line of reasoning is unpersuasive, it challenges us to provide an account of temporal predication, which is the focus of much recent work on change. This paper surveys various approaches to change and temporal predication and addresses related questions about identity, persistence, properties, time…
Humean Supervenience and Personal Identity
Journal Article Humean Supervenience and Personal Identity Get access Ryan Wasserman Ryan Wasserman Rutgers University, New Jersey Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 55, Issue 221, October 2005, Pages 582–593, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0031-8094.2005.00417.x Published: 07 September 2005
Indeterminacy, Ignorance and the Possibility of Parity
A Gradable Approach to Dispositions
Previous theories of the relationship between dispositions and conditionals are unable to account for the fact that dispositions come in degrees. We propose a fix for this problem which has the added benefit of avoiding the familiar problems of finks and masks
The Future Similarity Objection Revisited
Dispositions and Generics: Dispositions and Generics
Humean Supervenience and Personal Identity
Journal Article Humean Supervenience and Personal Identity Get access Ryan Wasserman Ryan Wasserman Rutgers University, New Jersey Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 55, Issue 221, October 2005, Pages 582–593, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0031-8094.2005.00417.x Published: 07 September 2005
Vagueness and the Laws of Metaphysics
This is a paper about the nature of metaphysical laws and their relation to the phenomenon of vagueness. Metaphysical laws are introduced as analogous to natural laws, and metaphysical indeterminism is modeled on causal indeterminacy. This kind of indeterminacy is then put to work in developing a novel theory of vagueness and a solution to the sorites paradox
The Problem of Change
The Eleatic philosophers argued that it was impossible for anything to change, since that would require something to differ from itself. Although this line of reasoning is unpersuasive, it challenges us to provide an account of temporal predication, which is the focus of much recent work on change. This paper surveys various approaches to change and temporal predication and addresses related questions about identity, persistence, properties, time…
Indeterminacy, Ignorance and the Possibility of Parity
The Independence Solution to the Problem of Theological Fatalism
Indeterminacy, Ignorance and the Possibility of Parity
Humean Supervenience and Personal Identity
Journal Article Humean Supervenience and Personal Identity Get access Ryan Wasserman Ryan Wasserman Rutgers University, New Jersey Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 55, Issue 221, October 2005, Pages 582–593, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0031-8094.2005.00417.x Published: 07 September 2005
The Future Similarity Objection Revisited
The Problem of Change
The Eleatic philosophers argued that it was impossible for anything to change, since that would require something to differ from itself. Although this line of reasoning is unpersuasive, it challenges us to provide an account of temporal predication, which is the focus of much recent work on change. This paper surveys various approaches to change and temporal predication and addresses related questions about identity, persistence, properties, time…
A Gradable Approach to Dispositions
Previous theories of the relationship between dispositions and conditionals are unable to account for the fact that dispositions come in degrees. We propose a fix for this problem which has the added benefit of avoiding the familiar problems of finks and masks
On Linking Dispositions and Conditionals
Analyses of dispositional ascriptions in terms of conditional statements famously confront the problems of finks and masks. We argue that conditional analyses of dispositions, even those tailored to avoid.nks and masks, face five further problems. These are the problems of: (i) Achilles' heels, (ii) accidental closeness, (iii) comparatives, (iv) explaining context sensitivity, and (v) absent stimulus conditions. We conclude by offering a proposal…
Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology
Metaphysics asks questions about existence: for example, do numbers really exist? Metametaphysics asks questions about metaphysics: for example, do its questions have determinate answers? If so, are these answers deep and important, or are they merely a matter of how we use words? What is the proper methodology for their resolution? These questions have received a heightened degree of attention lately with new varieties of ontological deflationis…
The Power of Logic
Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology
Teaching & Learning Guide for: The Problem of Change
This guide accompanies the following article: Ryan Wasserman, ‘The Problem of Change’, Philosophy Compass 1/1 (2006): 1–10, doi: 10.1111/j.1747‐9991.2005.00012.x Author’s Introduction Our world is a world of change. Children are born and grow into adults. Material possessions rust and decay with age and ultimately perish. Yet scepticism about change is as old as philosophy itself. Heraclitus, for example, argued that nothing could survive the rep…
Dispositions and Generics: Dispositions and Generics
Vagueness and the Laws of Metaphysics
This is a paper about the nature of metaphysical laws and their relation to the phenomenon of vagueness. Metaphysical laws are introduced as analogous to natural laws, and metaphysical indeterminism is modeled on causal indeterminacy. This kind of indeterminacy is then put to work in developing a novel theory of vagueness and a solution to the sorites paradox
Paradoxes of Time Travel
Paradoxes of Identity
Chapter 6 looks at some of the puzzles that arise in cases where time travelers visit their former (or future) selves. Section 1 presents the main paradox of self-visitation and draws a guiding analogy to the traditional problem of change. Section 2 introduces the perdurantist theories of persistence and change, and develops a corresponding account of self-visitation. Section 3 explains the endurantist views of persistence and change, and explore…
The Independence Solution to the Problem of Theological Fatalism
Lessons from Grandfather
Assume that, even with a time machine, Tim does not have the ability to travel to the past and kill Grandfather. Why would that be? And what are the implications for traditional debates about freedom? We argue that there are at least two satisfactory explanations for why Tim cannot kill Grandfather. First, if an agent’s behavior at time t is causally dependent on fact F, then the agent cannot perform an action (at t) that would require F to have …
Time Travel, Freedom, and Incompatibilism
Intrinsic Properties and the Problem of “Other Things”
Intrinsic properties are those which cannot be had or lacked in virtue of other things. Being a square is intrinsic, in this sense, whereas being next to a square is not. But what, exactly, counts as an “other thing” in this context? As it turns out, this is a surprisingly difficult question. I provide a critical assessment of three existing proposals (in terms of identity, mereology, and ontology), before developing my own, alternative account. …
Epistemology (13 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Philosophy and Theoretical Science (12 works) · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics (9 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Metaphysics (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Philosophical Ethics and Theory (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works)