Email: <gwitmer> Office: 330B Griffin-Floyd Hall Phone: (352) 273-1830 Dept. Fax: (352) 392-5577 Department of Philosophy 330 Griffin-Floyd Hall University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611-8545

D. Gene Witmer Associate Professor of Philosophy Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1997 Areas of research: Metaphysics, philosophy of mind, physicalism, consciousness, a priori knowledge Curriculum Vitae I joined the faculty at the University of Florida in 1997 after doing my doctoral degree at Rutgers. My research has been in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, often focusing on the doctrine of physicalism, the claim, roughly, that everything that exists is in some sense ultimately physical in nature. I've also worked on such topics as the nature of intrinsic properties, questions about mental causation, functionalist treatments of the mind, and the role of conceptual analysis and/or a priori knowledge in metaphysics generally. My interest in epistemology and philosophy of religion has grown over the years as well. Recently, I have found myself in the most improbable position of Department Chair, a role that has made the metaphysics of impossibilia a pressing concern. Recent graduate seminars have included courses in epistemology, physicalism, and the problem of consciousness. By way of undergraduate teaching, I have been teaching the philosophy of religion course (PHI3700) on a regular basis lately and have often taught the major's required course in epistemology (PHI3300). Other undergraduate courses I teach include Philosophy of Mind (PHI4320), Metaphysics (PHI3500), and Analytic Philosophy (PHP4784). I am presently the faculty advisor for UF's Gator Freethought society. Faculty < Department < College < University

Office hours for Fall 2011: Mondays 1:00 - 4:00 PM And by apppointment* ... *Regular office hours are not held during holidays, spring break, or after the last day of classes (during reading days and exam week).  Appointments may still be made during those times. If a class is cancelled on a particular day, the office hours on that day will be cancelled as well.

Fall 2011 courses PHI4320 Philosophy of Mind (overlap with PHI5325) PHI5935 Graduate Proseminar Selected Publications "Naturalism and Physicalism." Encyclopedia entry for A Companion to Metaphysics, Continuum Publishing, edited by Robert Barnard and Neil Manson. Forthcoming. "Stalking the Elusive Physicalist Thesis." Review of Daniel Stoljar, Physicalism. Routledge, 2010. Metascience, forthcoming. Review of Timothy Williamson, The Philosophy of Philosophy. Blackwell, 2007. Metaphilosophy, forthcoming. Review of Christopher Peacocke, Truly Understood. Oxford University Press, 2008. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, June 1, 2009. http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=16266 "Necessity, Identity, and A Priori Access. Philosophical Topics 35 (1-2): 241-263. Spring/Fall 2007. Review of Steven Horst, Beyond Reduction: Philosophy of Mind and Post-Reductionist Philosophy of Science. Oxford University Press, 2007. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, April 10, 2008. http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=12863 "How To Be A (Sort of) A Priori Physicalist." Philosophical Studies 131 (1): 185-225. October 2006. "Intrinsicality without Naturalness." Co-authored with William Butchard and Kelly Trogdon. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (2): 326-350. March 2005. "Multiple Realizability and Psychological Laws: Evaluating Kim's Challenge." In Physicalism and Mental Causation: The Metaphysics of Mind and Action. Sven Walter and Heinz-Dieter Heckmann. Imprint Academic Publishers, UK. 2003. Pages 59-84. "Functionalism and Causal Exclusion." Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 84 (2): 198-214. June 2003. "Dupré's Anti-Essentialist Objection to Reductionism." The Philosophical Quarterly 53 (211): 181-200. April 2003. Selected Recent Presentations Comments on Carl Gillett, "Against Structural Properties." March 4, 2011. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. New Orleans, Louisiana. "On Making Everything Boring." Presidential Address for the Florida Philosophical Association. November 5, 2010. Daytona, Florida. Comments on Kevin Morris: "Subset Realization, Parthood, and Causal Overdetermination." April 15, 2010. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Atlanta, Georga. Comments on Emmett Holman: "Phenomenal Concepts and the Mode of Presentation Problem." April 2, 2010. Pacific APA Division Conference. San Francisco, California. "Remarks on Jubien's Possibility." Part of a critical symposium on Michael Jubien's book Possibility (Oxford University Press, 2009). November 13, 2009. Florida Philosophical Association conference. Gainesville, Florida. Comments on Gary Bartlett: "A Neglected Argument Against Functionalist Theories of Experience." April 10, 2009. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Savannah, Georgia. "Remarks on Ladyman and Ross's Every Thing Must Go." February 20, 2009. Central Division, American Philosophical Association. Author Meets Critics session of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science. Chicago, Illinois. Comments on Timothy Pickavance: "Trivializing Naturalness." February 19, 2009. Central Division, American Philosophical Association. Chicago, Illinois. "Semantic Rationalism: A Brief Exposition and Defense." November 16, 2008. Florida Philosophical Association. Daytona Beach, Florida. Comments on Thomas Polger and Lawrence Shapiro: "Understanding the Dimensions of Realization." March 20, 2008. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. New Orleans, Louisiana. "Realization and the Promise of Explanatory Import." November 11, 2007, Florida Philosophical Association (Tallahassee, Florida) and April 6, 2007, Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology (Atlanta, Georgia). "Realization, Higher Order Properties, and Explanatory Import." October 14, 2006. At the conference on Mind, Body and Realization, held at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. Comments on Alyssa Ney: "Physicalism as an Attitude." April 14, 2006. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Charleston, South Carolina.