Jonathon VandenHombergh
vandenhomber@wisc.edu
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About Me
I am a postdoctoral fellow with the Clinical Center Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. Before that, I received my PhD in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
My current research involves the application of non-traditional metaphysical theories toward traditional problems in metaphysics, ethics, and the philosophies of mind, language, and logic. For example, I argue in my dissertation that we can avoid the indeterminacy of material objects (a traditional problem) by reconceiving those objects as abstract (a non-traditional theory).
I also enjoy teaching. I have almost ten years of teaching and grading experience, across face-to-face and online/pre-recorded modalities, in lecture and small class formats, and at both large research institutions and a community college. I am especially passionate about teaching logic and ethics, which I consider essential to good civic engagement.
Publications
Forthcoming, "Hallucination as Perceptual Synecdoche," The Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Download PDF here.
2020, "Consciousness, Conceivability, and Intrinsic Reduction," Erkenntnis 85: 1129–51. Download PDF here.
2017, "Inconceivable Physicalism," Analysis 77(1): 116-25. Download PDF here.
Under Review
[Redacted while under review at American Philosophical Quarterly; PDF available upon request]
Criticisms
Marton, Peter, 2023, "Conceivability, Kripkean Identity, and S5: a Reply to Jonathon VandenHombergh," Erkenntnis https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-023-00759-3.
In Progress
"A Niladic Answer to the Ultimate Question," in which I argue that the question of why anything exists can be satisfactorily answered by appeal to zero-grounding: i.e., anything's existing is grounded, but not by anything at all.
"A Kantian Challenge for Autonomous AI," in which I argue that many beneficial uses of future AI will require its autonomy, and that such uses therefore violate Kant's principle of humanity.
"The Independent Absurd," in which I explore a mind-independent notion of "the absurd," grounded in the dialetheically justified idea that the world's existence is logically equivalent to its non-existence—and hence that its existence is metaphysically arbitrary.
Presentations
2023, "The Inner Part of Chaotic Hallucination," Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Louisville, USA. Download PowerPoint here.
2018, "Conceptual Sieves," New Mexico Texas Philosophical Society, Houston, USA. Download PowerPoint here.
2017, "Conceptual Sieves," Third International Conference on Philosophy of Mind, Braga, Portugal. PowerPoint available upon request.
2016, "Phenomenal Concepts and the Disjunction Problem," Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. PowerPoint available upon request.
2015, "The Logic of Quantified Two-Dimensional Conceivability Arguments," Masterclass Conference with David Chalmers, Stockholm, Sweden. PowerPoint available upon request.
Courses Taught
2023, Introduction to Ethics. Download syllabus and sample of groupwork assignment here.
2022, Introduction to Philosophy. Download syllabus and sample of paper prompts here.
2018-2023, Contemporary Moral Issues. Syllabus available upon request.
2018, Formal Logic. Syllabus available upon request.
Lecture Samples
2023, "Chapter 11: The Kantian Perspective: Fairness and Justice," on chapter 11 of Russ Shafer-Landau's Fundamentals of Ethics, for an online asynchronous introduction to ethics course. Download video here.
2022, "Weeks 1-2: Introduction," on the Introduction to Nigel Warburton's Philosophy: the Basics, for an introduction to philosophy course. Download PowerPoint here.
2018, "Week 3: the Syntax of Propositional Logic; Semantics and Truth Tables," on parts II and III of P.D. Magnus et. al.'s for all x: Calgary, an Introduction to Formal Logic, for a course in formal logic. Download PowerPoint here.
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