BEN
CAPLAN ~ CV
337F University Hall
230 North Oval Mall
614.292.2479
caplan dot 16 at osu dot edu
EMPLOYMENT
Instructor, UCLA, Summer
2000, Summer 2001
Assistant Professor,
University of
Manitoba, 2002-2005
Associate Professor
(untenured), University
of Manitoba, 2005-2006
Visiting Associate
Professor, UCLA,
Spring 2006
Associate
Professor, OSU,
2006-
EDUCATION
BA, Philosophy
(Honours) with First Class Honours, McGill, 1996
Thesis: "Consistency and the
Frege-Hilbert Correspondence"
Supervisor: Michael Hallett
MA, Philosophy,
UCLA, 1998
PhD, Philosophy,
UCLA, 2002
Committee: David
Kaplan (chair), Tyler
Burge, Ed Keenan, Sean
Kelsey, Tony Martin, Terry
Parsons, Nathan Salmon
History of Analytic
Philosophy, Logic
PUBLICATIONS
Papers (refereed)
1. "What's Puzzling Gottlob Frege?," Canadian Journal of Philosophy 31.2 (June 2001): 159-200, with Mike
Thau.
For replies, see Richard G. Heck, Jr., "Frege on Identity
and Identity-Statements: A Reply to Thau and Caplan," Canadian Journal of Philosophy 33.1 (March
2003): 83-102; and Gilead Bar-Elli, "Identity in Frege's Begriffsschrift: Where Both Thau-Caplan
and Heck Are Wrong," Canadian Journal of Philosophy 36.3 (Sept.
2006): 355-370.
2. "Quotation and Demonstration," Philosophical Studies 111.1 (Oct. 2002): 69-80.
3. "Putting Things in Contexts," Philosophical
Review 112.2 (April 2003): 191-214.
4. "Can a Musical Work Be Created?," British
Journal of Aesthetics 44.2 (April 2004): 113-134, with Carl Matheson.
5. "Creatures of Fiction, Myth, and Imagination,"
American Philosophical Quarterly 41.4 (Oct. 2004): 331-337.
6. "Fusions and Ordinary Physical Objects," Philosophical Studies 125.1 (July 2005): 61-83, with Bob Bright.
7. "Why So Tense About the Copula?," Mind 114.455 (July 2005): 703-708.
8. "Against Widescopism," Philosophical Studies 125.2 (August 2005): 167-190.
9. "Defending Musical Perdurantism," British
Journal of Aesthetics 46.1
(Jan. 2006): 59-69, with Carl Matheson.
For
a reply, see Julian Dodd, Works of Music:
An Essay in Ontology (
10. "A New Defence of the Modal Existence Requirement,"
Synthese 154.2 (Jan. 2007): 335-343.
11. "Millian Descriptivism," Philosophical Studies 133.2 (March 2007): 181-198.
12. "Fine Individuation," British
Journal of Aesthetics 47.2
(April 2007): 113-137, with Carl Matheson.
13. "On the Content of Experience," Philosophy
and Phenomenological Research 75.3 (Nov. 2007): 590-611, with Tim Schroeder.
14.
"Defending 'Defending Musical Perdurantism',"
British
Journal of Aesthetics 48.1
(Jan. 2008): 80-85, with Carl Matheson.
15.
"Modality, Individuation, and the Ontology of Art,"
Canadian Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming),
with Carl Matheson.
16. "The Way Things Were," Philosophy
and Phenomenological Research (forthcoming), with David
Sanson.
1.
Review of Alan Berger, Terms and Truth: Reference Direct
and Anaphoric, Dialogue 43.3 (Summer 2004): 617-619.
2. Review
of Jerrold J. Katz, Sense, Reference, and
Philosophy, Notre Dame Philosophical
Reviews (1 Jan. 2005).
3. "Empty names," The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd ed., ed. Keith
Brown, vol. 4 (Philosophy
and Language, ed. Robert Stainton and Alex
Barber) (Oxford: Elsevier, 2006), 132-136.
4. "Existence," The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd ed., ed. Keith
Brown, vol. 4 (Philosophy
and Language, ed. Robert Stainton and Alex
Barber) (Oxford: Elsevier, 2006), 371-374.
5. "Kaplan, David Benjamin," The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd ed.,
ed. Donald Borchert (
6. "On Sense and Direct Reference," Philosophy
Compass 1.2 (March 2006): 171-185. Reprinted in On Sense and Direct Reference:
7. Review
of Stefano Predelli, Contexts, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (17 Nov.
2006; corrected 29 Nov. 2006).
8. Review of Julian Dodd, Works
of Music: An Essay in Ontology, British
Journal of Aesthetics 47.4 (Oct. 2007): 445-446.
9. Review
of Trenton Merricks, Truth and Ontology,
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (16 Feb.
2008).
IN PROGRESS
"Mereological Myths," with Kris McDaniel
"A Comment on Michael Nelson's
'Descriptivism Defended'"
· APA
Pacific Division Meeting,
"Empty Names and Gappy Propositions"
· SEP Annual Meeting, Université de
Montréal, May 2001 (Foreign Graduate Student Travel Award)
(refereed)
· UBC, January 2002 (invited)
"In the Realm of the Senses"
· Purdue, January 2002 (invited)
· University of Alberta, February 2002 (invited)
· University of Manitoba, March 2003 (invited)
"Creatures of Fiction, Myth, and Imagination"
· University of
Manitoba, January 2002 (as "Salmon on 'Vulcan'") (invited)
· Institute
for the Humanities, University of Manitoba, March 2003 (as
"Fictional Characters and Other Abstract Objects") (invited)
"A Comment on Tim Kenyon's 'Paradox and
Factivity'"
· CPA Annual Congress, Dalhousie, June 2003 (invited)
"Meinong for Non-Meinongians"
· WCPA Annual Conference, University of Lethbridge,
October 2003 (refereed)
· APA
Pacific Division Meeting,
· DavidFest, UCLA, October 2003 (as "David (and Some of His Many Students) on Demonstratives")
(invited)
· UMASS, February 2004 (invited)
"A Comment on Mark McCullagh's
'Understanding Mixed Quotation'"
· CPA Annual
Congress, University
of Manitoba, May 2004 (invited)
"A Comment on
David Braun's 'Now You Know Who Hong Oak Yun Is'"
· Camp De
Re, Queen's,
September 2004 (invited)
"A Comment on
Steven Savitt's 'Presentism and Eternalism in Perspective'"
· WCPA Annual Congress, University of Victoria,
October 2004 (invited)
"On the Content of Experience," with Tim Schroeder
· APA
Pacific Division Meeting,
· CPA
Annual Congress, University
of Manitoba, May 2004 (refereed)
·
Queen's,
November 2004 (invited)
· University of Calgary, March 2005 (invited)
· University of Nottingham, May 2005 (invited)
"Frege on the
Identity Relation and Identity Sentences: A Reply to Heck," with Michael
Thau
· Frege, Identity and Logic Conference, SAS, University of London,
May 2005 (invited)
"A Comment on
Richard Heck's 'A Little Orthodoxy'"
· Frege, Identity and Logic Conference, SAS, University of London,
May 2005 (invited)
"A Comment on
Bernard Linsky's 'Bertrand Russell's Notes on Frege's Theory of Sinn and Bedeutung'"
· CPA
Annual Congress, University
of Western Ontario, May 2005 (invited)
"A Comment on Gideon Rosen's 'The Alethic
Conception of Culpability'"
· WCPA Annual Conference, University of
Manitoba, October 2005 (invited)
"A Comment on Ori Simchen's 'Actualist Essentialism
and General Possibilities'"
· WCPA Annual Conference, University of
Manitoba, October 2005 (invited)
"Frege's Puzzles"
· Reference and Attitude, UQÀM, April
2006 (invited)
"Sets and Sandwiches"
· Syracuse, October 2005 (invited)
· OSU, November 2005 (invited)
· UCSB, June 2006 (invited)
"Fine Individuation," with Carl Matheson
· University of Winnipeg, March 2006 (invited)
·
APA Pacific
Division Meeting,
·
WCPA Annual Conference, SFU, October
2006 (refereed)
"Modality, Individuation, and the Ontology of Art,"
with Carl Matheson
·
McGill,
November 2005 (invited)
·
Auburn,
March 2007 (invited)
·
APA Pacific
Division Meeting,
"A Comment on Saikat Guha's 'On Being Ontologically
Committed'"
· 10th Annual
INPC, Boise
State, March 2007 (invited)
"The Way Things Were," with David
Sanson
· 8th Annual INPC, University
of Idaho and WSU,
April 2005 (refereed)
· APA
Central Division Meeting,
· CPA
Annual Congress, University
of Western Ontario, May 2005 (refereed)
·
Franklin
and Marshall, September 2007 (invited)
·
CMU,
November 2007 (invited)
·
Illinois
State, February 2008 (invited)
"Locality and
Necessity," with David Sanson
· OSU, August 2007 (invited)
·
Maryland,
September 2007 (invited)
·
Carleton,
January 2008 (invited)
·
APA Pacific
Division Meeting,
"A Comment on Kris McDaniel's 'A Return
to the Analogy of Being'"
·
11th Annual INPC, University
of Idaho and WSU,
March 2008 (invited)
"A Comment on Arthur Sullivan's 'Multiple-Proposition
Views in Recent Philosophy of Language: A Preliminary Investigation'"
• CPA Annual Congress, UBC, May 2008
(invited)
TBA
• James Madison
(invited)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Introductory
undergraduate courses
Intro (Winter 2007, Winter 2008)
Graduate and advanced undergraduate courses
Linguistic and Mental Content (Fall 2007)
Metaphysics (Winter 2004, Winter 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2006, Winter 2007)
Modal Logic (Winter 2006)
Ontology of Art (Spring 2006)
Prince of Wales Gold
Medal in Moral and Mental Philosophy, Department
of Philosophy, McGill, 1995-1996
Robert M. Yost Prize for Excellence in Teaching,
Department
of Philosophy, UCLA, 1999-2000
Rudolf and Ina Carnap Essay Prize, Department
of Philosophy, UCLA, 1998-1999, 2000-2001, 2001-2002
Standard Research Grant, SSHRC,
2004-2006 ($47,350; declined 2006-2007)
REFEREEING
For journals
Australasian Journal of Philosophy**, Canadian Journal of Philosophy**, dialectica*,
Dialogue*,
Erkenntnis*, Journal of Philosophical Research, Mind*, Noûs,
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophia,
Philosophical
Studies**, Philosophical Quarterly*, Philosophy
and Phenomenological Research*, Synthese*
For conferences
Context 05:
Workshop on
the semantics-pragmatics distinction*, CPA*,
WCPA*
For presses
* more than one but
fewer than five assignments
** five or more
assignments
DEPARTMENT SERVICE
At the
Budget and Personnel
Committee, 2004-2006
Hiring Committee, 2004-2006
M.A. Comprehensive Exams Committees
· Philosophy of Language, 2002-2006
· Philosophy of Law, 2003-2006
· Metaphysics, 2002-2006
·
Philosophy of Religion, 2002-2006
Visiting Speakers'
Committee, 2003-2006
At OSU
Executive Committee,
2007-2008 (ex officio)
Curriculum Committee, 2007-2008 (ex officio)
Fink Award Committee, 2006-2007
Graduate Admissions
Committee, 2006-2007
Graduate Committee, 2006-2007
(member), 2007-2008 (chair)
Placement Committee,
2007-2008 (ex officio)
Reading Committees
· For David Sanson, 2007-2008 (chair)
· For
Declan Smithies, 2007-2008
Search Committee, 2007-2008
OTHER SERVICE
Subject Editor
(Philosophy of Language), 2007-
Member, Doctoral Fellowships Committee
2 (Humanities), 2005
Member,
Postdoctoral Fellowships Committee 1 (Humanities), 2007-2008
WCPA
Organizer, Annual Conference, 2005
SUPERVISION
As advisor
1. Mark
Barber,
"Sets and
Fictions," MA thesis defended July 2004.
Fall 2004 - : PhD
student at Syracuse.
2.
Lowell Friesen,
"A New Defence of
Natural Class Trope Nominalism," MA thesis defended August 2005.
Fall 2005 - : PhD
student at UMASS.
3. Sam Cowling,
"Neither Simples
Nor Gunk," MA thesis defended August 2005.
Fall 2006 - : PhD
student at UMASS.
4.
Joe LoVetri,
"Metaphysics of Laws of
Nature," MA thesis defended August 2006.
Professor, Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Associate Dean (Research and Graduate
Programs), Faculty of Engineering
5. Wesley Cray, OSU.
Candidacy examination
2007-2008, qualifying examination 2008-2009.
6. Cathy Muller, OSU.
Candidacy examination
2006-2007 (non-advisor member), qualifying examination 2007-2008.