Schaffer, Jonathan
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jonathan Schaffer is an American
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
specializing in
metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
and also working in
epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
,
mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...
, and
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
. He is best known for his work on grounding and his development of
monism Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
, and is also a notable proponent of
contrastivism Contrastivism, or the contrast theory of meaning, is an epistemological theory proposed by Jonathan Schaffer that suggests that knowledge attributions have a ternary structure of the form 'S knows that p rather than q'. This is in contrast to the t ...
.


Career

Since earning his PhD from
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
in 1999, Schaffer has published 73 papers.Schaffer's CV
/ref> He wrote his PhD thesis ''Causation and the Probabilities of Processes'' under Brian McLaughlin. In 2000, he accepted a position as assistant professor at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...
in
Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massach ...
, earning tenure by 2004. In that period he was awarded the Philosophy of Science Recent PhD Essay Contest in 2001, and the Young Epistemologist Prize in 2002. In 2007, Schaffer accepted a permanent research position at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
, and was described as "one of philosophy's most creative and interesting younger figures". He subsequently won awards for two papers published that year, the
American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...
's 2008 Article Prize, for "Knowing the Answer" in ''
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' (''PPR'') is a bimonthly philosophy journal founded in 1940. Until 1980, it was edited by Marvin Farber, then by Roderick Chisholm, and since 1986 by Ernest Sosa. It considers itself open to a variety ...
'', and the ''
Australasian Journal of Philosophy The ''Australasian Journal of Philosophy'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy and "one of the oldest English-language philosophy journals in the world". It was established in 1923 as ''The Australasian Journal of Psychol ...
s 2008 Best Paper Award, for "From Nihilism to Monism". In 2010, Schaffer accepted a permanent position at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
. In 2014 he was awarded the Lebowitz Prize for excellence in philosophical thought by
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
in conjunction with the
American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...
. In 2015 he was promoted to Distinguished Professor, and from 2016-19 he had a
Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of ...
.


Philosophical work


Meta-ontology

Schaffer advocates a neo-Aristotelian approach to
meta-ontology Metaontology or meta-ontology is the study of the field of inquiry known as ontology. The goal of meta-ontology is to clarify what ontology is about and how to interpret the meaning (philosophy), meaning of ontological claims. Different meta-ontol ...
in which composite objects,
abstract objects In philosophy and the arts, a fundamental distinction exists between abstract and concrete entities. While there is no universally accepted definition, common examples illustrate the difference: numbers, sets, and ideas are typically classified ...
, fictional characters, and many other philosophically contentious entities exist. Rather than debating such objects' existence, the primary role of metaphysics is to organize all existent entities into a hierarchical dependence structure. Within this structure, all existing things are classified as fundamental entities, derivative entities, or grounding relations."On What Grounds What"
Fundamental entities (also called substances) have nothing ontologically prior to them upon which their existence depends. They are the most basic units of existence. derivative entities, on the other hand, depend upon other entities for their existence. Schaffer uses the holes in a block of Swiss Cheese as an example of a derivative entity, since the holes are ontologically dependent upon the cheese. A derivative entity may be grounded in either another derivative entity or in a substance. A grounding relation is a primitive relation of dependence that holds between a derivative entity and that entity's "grounds". Grounding relations are irreflexive, asymmetric, and transitive. This allows for chains of grounding. Schaffer asserts that all chains of grounding must terminate in a fundamental entity in his "well-foundedness" assumption. "Monism: The Priority of the Whole"
/ref>


Priority monism

Schaffer is perhaps most well-known for his arguments in favor of priority monism. Priority monism is a form of
monism Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
that claims that while very many entities exist, only one is fundamental. For Schaffer, this entity is the cosmos. Schaffer's position is motivated by his belief that the whole universe may be an entangled system and thus have properties that are not reducible to the universe's parts. "Monism: The Priority of the Whole" also contains his Argument from Gunk, according to which mereological atoms cannot be fundamental due to the possibility of infinitely divisible matter.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaffer, Jonathan 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers Rutgers University alumni Analytic philosophers 1970 births American metaphysicians Living people American philosophy academics Humboldt Research Award recipients Rutgers University faculty Kenyon College alumni American epistemologists American philosophers of mind American philosophers of language