Jonathon VandenHombergh, PhD
jjacobvandenhombergh@gmail.com
View my full CV here.
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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 MA in philosophy at the University of Houston, and my BS in psychology and philosophy at Aquinas College.
My research is about the human subject and its place in an increasingly complex world. On the "theoretical" side, this amounts to research on consciousness, perception, and other topics in the philosophy of mind. On the "practical" side, it amounts to research on euthanasia, AI therapy, and other topics in bioethics. I also have side interests in metaphysics.
For methodological reasons (which I can't explain here), I like to defend weird philosophical claims. Here are some of them:
It's safer to believe in controversial theories of consciousness (2017, 2020).
External objects get perceived by literally growing into our heads (2025).
You can't choose euthanasia for your own reasons (forthcoming).
The friendlier AI becomes, the less we can use it for friendship (under review).
Sticks and stones are made of things like the number three (my dissertation).
There is something rather than nothing because of something else--namely, nothing (in progress).
I also enjoy teaching and clinical ethics consultation. I have almost ten years of teaching and grading experience, across a variety of formats, class sizes, and locations. I am especially passionate about teaching logic and ethics, which I consider essential to good civic engagement. I am relatively new to clinical ethics consultation, but I have experience in a shadowing capacity at both the NIH and (soon) the MedStar Hospital system in Washington, D.C.
Publications
Forthcoming, "Expressivist Concerns for Assisted Dying on Request," Journal of Medical Ethics.
2025, "Hallucination as Perceptual Synecdoche," The Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
2020, "Consciousness, Conceivability, and Intrinsic Reduction," Erkenntnis 85: 1129–51.
2017, "Inconceivable Physicalism," Analysis 77(1): 116-25.
Under Review
[REDACTED while under review at the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry]
[REDACTED while under review at Philosophy and Technology]
In Progress
"How to Hack an Ethics Consultation," in which I explore the morality of using AI to generate justifications for a clinical ethics consult recommendation.
"On Pain of Metaphysical Arbitrariness," in which I try to explain what metaphysical arbitrariness is and why it is sometimes intolerable.
"The One is the Type of the Many," in which I argue that the 'problem of the many' can be solved if material objects are constituted by the type of their candidate constituters.
"[UNTITLED]," with Farid Masrour, in which we elaborate on some cool features of perceptual relationalism.
Criticisms of my Work
Marton, Peter, 2023, "Conceivability, Kripkean Identity, and S5: a Reply to Jonathon VandenHombergh," Erkenntnis https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-023-00759-3.
My Dissertation
2024, The One is the Type of the Many, University of Wisconsin-Madison, advised by Farid Masrour, Alan Sidelle, and Bruno Whittle.
Conference 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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