Professor Daniel Nolan

 Daniel Nolan is McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame in the USA.

From July 2025, he will be Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at the University of California Santa Cruz.

Email:     dnolan1@ucsc.edu

dnolan2@nd.edu

Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland.

Co-editor of the journal Noûs.

Daniel Nolan's CV is online in A4 PDF format, or in Letter PDF format.

Philosophy Publications

Monographs

forthcoming  Zoroastrianism and Contemporary Philosophy. Cambridge Elements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2005     David Lewis, Acumen Publishing, Chesham and McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal & Kingston. Routledge, London and New York, edition 2014.

2002      Topics in the Philosophy of Possible Worlds. Routledge Press, New York. Reprint Edition 2011.

Articles

forthcoming "Counterpossibles, Consequence and Context". Inquiry.

forthcoming "Creeped Out" (with Sara Bernstein). Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Mind.

forthcoming "Conditionals, Supposition, and Euthyphro". Inquiry.

forthcoming "Grounding, Explanation, and the Tasks of Metaphysics" in Segal, A. and Stang, N. Systematic Metaphysics: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2025  "Send in the Clowns". Oxford Studies in Metaphysics 14: 215-221

2025 "Lessons from Infinite Clowns". Oxford Studies in Metaphysics 14: 280-286

2024  "Marriage and its Limits". Inquiry 67.10: 4131-4166

2024 "Charitable Matching and Moral Credit". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 108: 687-696

2023 "Space, Time and Parsimony". Noûs 57.4: 763-783

2023 "Zurvanist Supersubstantivalism". Asian Journal of Philosophy 2.38: 1-19

2023 "On the Plurality of Parts of Classes". Dialectica 72.2: 123-133 

2022 "What Would Lewis Do?" in Beebee, H. and Fisher, A.R.J. (eds) Perspectives on the Philosophy of David K. Lewis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 220-239

2021 "Impossible Fictions Part I: Lessons for Fiction". Philosophy Compass 16.2: 1-12

2021 "Impossible Fictions Part II: Lessons for Mind, Language and Epistemology". Philosophy Compass 16.2: 1-10

2021. "Hyperintensionality", with Francesco Berto. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

2021 "Impossibility and Impossible Worlds" in Bueno, O. and Shalkowski, S. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Modality. New York: Routledge. pp 40-48.

2020 "It's a Kind of Magic: Lewis, Magic and Properties". Synthese 197.11: 4717-4741

2020 "Imaginative Resistance and Modal Knowledge". Res Philosophica 97.4: 661-685

2019 "Infinite Barbarians". Ratio 32.3: 173-181

2018 "Reflections on Routley's Ultralogic Program". Australasian Journal of Logic 15.2: 407-430

2018 "Cosmic Loops" in Bliss, R. and Priest, G. (eds) Reality and Its Structure: Essays in Fundamentality. Oxford University Press, Oxford. pp 91-106

2017 "Methodological Naturalism in Metaethics" in McPherson, T. and Plunkett, D. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Metaethics. Routledge, New York. pp 659-673

2017 "Causal Counterfactuals and Impossible Worlds" in Beebee, H., Hitchcock, C. and Price, H. (eds) Making a Difference. Oxford:  Oxford University Press. pp 14-32

2017 "Does the World Contain States of Affairs? Yes" in Barnes, E. (ed) Current Controversies in Metaphysics. New York: Routledge. pp 81-91

2017 "Naturalised Modal Epistemology" in Fischer, R. and Leon, F. (eds.) Modal Epistemology After Rationalism. Dordrecht: Synthese Library Series, Springer. pp 7-28

2016 "Chance and Necessity". Philosophical Perspectives 30.1: 294-308

2016 "Stoic Trichotomies". Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 51: 207-230

2016 "The Possibilities of History". Journal of the Philosophy of History 10: 441-456

2016 "Conditionals and Curry". Philosophical Studies 173.10: 2629-2647

2016 "Method in Analytic Metaphysics" in Cappelen, H. Gendler, T.S., Hawthorne, J. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp 159-176

2015 "Temporary Marriage" in Brake, E. (ed) After Marriage: Rethinking Marriage Relationships. New York: Oxford University Press. pp 180-203

2015 "Utility Monsters for the Fission Age", with R.A. Briggs. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 96.3: 307-441

2015 "Noncausal Dispositions". Noûs 49.3: 425-439

2015 "Personification and Impossible Fictions". British Journal of Aesthetics 55.1: 57-69

2015 "The A Posteriori Armchair". Australasian Journal of Philosophy 93.2: 211-231

2015 "Lewis's Philosophical Method" in Loewer, B. and Schaffer, J. (eds) A Companion to David Lewis. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. pp 25-39

2015 "The Unrealistic Effectiveness of Abstract Metaphysics". Oxford Studies in Metaphysics 9: 61-88

2014 "The Question of Moral Ontology". Philosophical Perspectives 28: 201-221

2014 "The Dangers of Pragmatic Virtue". Inquiry 57.5-6: 623-644

2014 "Creationism and Cardinality" (with Alexander Sandgren). Analysis 74.4: 615-629

2014 "Hyperintensional Metaphysics". Philosophical Studies 171.1: 149-160

2014 "Balls and All" in Kleinschmidt, S. (ed) Mereology and Location. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  pp 91-116.

2013 "Why Historians (and Everyone Else) Should Care About Counterfactuals". Philosophical Studies 163.2: 317-335 

2013 "Impossible Worlds". Philosophy Compass 8.4: 360-372

2012 "Epistemic Dispositions" (with R.A. Briggs). Logos & Episteme 3.4: 629-636

2012 "Disposition Impossible" (with C.S. Jenkins).  Noûs 46.4: 732-753

2012 "Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know" (with R.A. Briggs).  Analysis 72.2: 314-16

2012 "Possible Worlds Semantics" in Fara, D.G. and Russell, G. (eds) The Routledge Companion to The Philosophy of Language. London: Routledge. pp 242-252

2011 "The Extent of Metaphysical Necessity".  Philosophical Perspectives 25.1: 313-339

2011 "Categories and Ontological Dependence". The Monist 94.2: 277-300

2010 "Metaphysics: 5 Questions" in Steglich-Peterson, A. (ed) Metaphysics: 5 Questions. Automatic Press. pp 63-73

2010 "Maximising, Satisficing and Context" (with C.S. Jenkins). Noûs 44.3: 451-468

2010  "Metaphysical Language, Ordinary Language, and Peter van Inwagen's Material Beings". Humana.mente. 13: 239-248  

2010 "Response to John Divers" in Hale, R. and Hoffman, A. (eds) Modality. Oxford University Press, Oxford pp 220-226 

2010 "Fearing Spouses in Aristotle’s Ta Oikonomika". British Journal for the History of Philosophy 18.1: 1-8

2009 "Modality" in Shand, J. (ed) Central Issues in Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester. pp 95-106

2009 "Infinity and Metaphysics" in Le Poidevin, R., Simons, P., McGonigal, A. and Cameron, R. (eds) The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics. Routledge, London. pp 430-439

2009 "Platitudes and Metaphysics" in Braddon-Mitchell, D. and Nola, R. (eds) Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalism. MIT Press, Cambridge MA pp 267-300

2009 "Consequentialism and Side Constraints". Journal of Moral Philosophy 6.1: 5-22

2008 "Non-Factivity About Knowledge: A Defensive Move". The Reasoner 2.11: 6-7

2008 "Truthmakers and Predication". Oxford Studies in Metaphysics 4: 171-191

2008 "Backwards Explanation". (with C.S. Jenkins) Philosophical Studies 140.1: 103-115

2008 "Liar-Like Paradox and Object-Language Features". (with C.S. Jenkins) American Philosophical Quarterly 45.1: 67-73

2008 "Finite Quantities". Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 108.1: 23-42

2008 "Properties and Paradox in Graham Priest's Towards Non-Being". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 76.1: 191-198

2007 "Contemporary Metaphysicians and Their Traditions". Philosophical Topics. 35.1&2: 1-18

2007 "A Consistent Reading of Sylvan's Box" Philosophical Quarterly. 67.229: 667-673

2006 "Selfless Desires" Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 73.3: 665-669

2006 "Vagueness, Multiplicity and Parts" Noûs. 40.4: 716-737

2006 "Stoic Gunk" Phronesis. 51.2: 162-183.

2006 "What Would Teleological Causation Be?" (with John Hawthorne). In Hawthorne, John. Metaphysical Essays. OUP, Oxford, pp 265-283.

2005 "Moral Fictionalism versus The Rest" (with Greg Restall and Caroline West) Australasian Journal of Philosophy. 83.3: 307-329

2005 "Fictionalist Attitudes About Fictional Matters" in Kalderon, Mark (ed) Fictionalist Approaches to Metaphysics. OUP, Oxford, pp 204-233.

2004 "Liberalism and Mental Mediation" (with Caroline West) Journal of Value Inquiry 38.2: 186-202

2004 "Classes, Worlds and Hypergunk" The Monist 87.3: 3-21

2003 "Defending a Possible-Worlds Account of Indicative Conditionals" Philosophical Studies 116.3: 215-69

2002 "Modal Fictionalism", an entry in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Main Entry plus three sub-entries. Revised 2007, 2011, 2016, 2020, 2024.

2001 "What's Wrong With Infinite Regresses?" Metaphilosophy 32.5: 523-538

1999 "Is Fertility Virtuous in its Own Right?" British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 50: 265-282

1997 "Impossible Worlds: A Modest Approach" Notre Dame Journal for Formal Logic 38.4: 535-572

1997 "Three Problems for 'Strong' Modal Fictionalism" Philosophical Studies 87.3: 259-275

1997 "Quantitative Parsimony" British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48.3: 329-343

1996 "Recombination Unbound" Philosophical Studies 84.2-3: 239-262

1996 "Reflexive Fictionalisms" (with John O'Leary-Hawthorne) Analysis 56.1: 26-32

Short Reference Pieces 

2019 "Intensionality and Hyperintensionality" in Crane, T. (ed.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge, London.

2013 "Intension and Extension" in Pashler, H. (ed) The Encyclopedia of the Mind. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, pp 424-427.

2012 "Moral Fictionalism" in Craig, E. (ed) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge, London.  

2010 "The Canberra Plan" in Oppy, G., Trakakis, N., Burns, L., Gardner S. and Leigh, F. (eds.) Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand. Monash EPress, Melbourne, pp 98-100.

2009 "David Lewis" in A Companion to Metaphysics, 2nd edition. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 370-2

2006 "David Lewis" in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition. Detroit: Macmillan Reference.

Book Reviews

forthcoming Review of David Lewis's Philosophical Manuscripts, edited by Frederique Janssen-Lauret and Fraser MacBride. Mind.

2023 Review of Aaron Cotnoir's and Achille Varzi's Mereology. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. (link)

2015 Review of Mark Jago's The Impossible: An Essay on Hyperintensionality. Mind 124.496: 1299-1302

2007 Review of Joseph Melia's Modality. Mind 116.461: 187-190

2004 Review of Charles Chihara’s The Worlds of Possibility: Modal Realism and the Semantics of Modal Logic. Studia Logica 76.3: 443-446

2003 Review of Preyer, G. and Siebelt, F. (eds) Reality and Humean Supervenience: Essays on the Philosophy of David Lewis. Philosophical Review 112.2: 263-266

2001 Review of Concha Martinez, Uxia Rivas and Luis Villegas-Forero (eds) Truth in Perspective: Recent Issues in Logic, Representation and Ontology. Studia Logica, 68.3: 404-407

1999 Review of Michael Tooley’s Time, Tense and Causation. Erkenntnis 50: 141-148

1998 Review of Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Diana Raffman and Nicholas Asher (eds) Modality, Morality and Belief: Essays in Honor of Ruth Barcan Marcus. Philosophical Quarterly 191: 253-255.

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