AMANDA BRYANT Department of Philosophy Trent University 1600 West Bank Drive Peterborough, Ontario K9L 0G2 www.amandakbryant.com amandabryant@trentu.ca Employment 2017-2018, Assistant Professor (Limited Term Appointment), Trent University Education PhD in Philosophy (2017), CUNY Graduate Center Dissertation: Supervisor: Committee: Scientifically Responsible Metaphysics: A Program for the Naturalization of Metaphysics Michael Devitt David Papineau Peter Godfrey-Smith MA in Philosophy (2014), CUNY Graduate Center MA in Philosophy (2011), Simon Fraser University BA Hons in Philosophy (2009), University of Regina Areas of Specialty Philosophy of Science Metaphysics Areas of Competence Epistemology Philosophy of Logic History of Analytic Philosophy Publications Refereed 2017. Keep the Chickens Cooped: The Epistemic Inadequacy of Free Range Metaphysics Synthese. 1-21. 1
2017. Resolving Quine s Conflict: A Neo-Quinean View of the Rational Revisability of Logic. Australasian Journal of Logic (14:1). 30-45. Invited What s Metaphysics All About? The Institute of Art and Ideas. iainews.iai.tv/articles/ what-is-metaphysics-all-about-auid-870?access=all Conference Presentations Refereed Oct 15, 2017. Oct 13, 2017. Jun 29, 2017. Nov 05, 2016. May 29, 2016. May 28, 2016. Feb 19, 2016. Why Care About Constraint: Theoretical Constraint as an Epistemic Good. Western Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Meeting. University of Regina, Canada. Epistemic Reasons for a Scientifically Responsible Metaphysics. Atlantic Region Philosophers Association Conference. Saint Mary s University, Canada. Scientific Metaphysics, Justification, and Fuzzy Disciplinary Boundaries. 6th Ernst Mach Workshop: Epistemology of Metaphysics Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic. No Escape for No Miracles: The No-Miracles Argument and the Base-Rate Fallacy. 25th Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Atlanta, USA. A Guiding Light for Ground: How to Naturalize Theories of Grounding. Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Congress. University of Calgary, Canada. No Escape for No Miracles: The No-Miracles Argument and The Base-Rate Fallacy. Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science Annual Meeting. University of Calgary, Canada. Reforging the Ruins: Squaring Causation with Eliminative Ontic Structural Realism. The History of Science and Contemporary Scientific Realism Conference. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, USA. 2
Jan 26, 2016. Dec 16, 2015. Oct 22, 2015. Oct 04, 2015. Sep 17, 2015. May 31, 2015. Resolving the Quinean Conflict: Groundwork for a Neo-Quinean View of the Rational Revisability of Logic. Frontiers of Non-Classicality: Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy. Auckland, New Zealand. Keep the Chickens Cooped: The Methodological Inadequacy of Free Range Metaphysics. MetaScience15: New Trends in the Metaphysics of Science. Paris-Sorbonne University, France. Tethering Modal Imagination: Toward a Naturalized Epistemology of Modal Metaphysics. Directions in the Epistemology of Modality. University of Stirling, Scotland. The Theory-Ladenness of Self-Experience: Why Phenomenology of the Self is Not Simply Given. Western Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Meeting. University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Reforging the Ruins: Squaring Causation with Eliminative Ontic Structural Realism. First Annual Conference of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science. Rutgers-Newark, USA. Keep the Chickens Cooped: The Methodological Inadequacy of Free Range Metaphysics. Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Congress. University of Ottawa, Canada. Invited Dec 07, 2017. Dec 11, 2015. Ampliative Inference, Epistemic Trade-Offs, and Disciplinary Autonomy in a Scientifically Responsible Metaphysics. Traditional and Inductive Metaphysics. Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany. Grounding and Naturalism: Are Theories of Grounding Naturalistic or Apt for Naturalization? The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Grounding and Fundamentality. CUNY Graduate Center, USA. 3
Scholarships and Awards External May 2012. May 2010. Doctoral Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Value: $60 000 CAD. Duration: 3 years (2012-15). Joseph-Armand Bombardier Master s Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Value: $17 500 CAD. Duration: 1 year (2010-11). Internal Apr 2016. Apr 2011. Dissertation Fellowship, CUNY Graduate Center. Value: $22 000 USD + tuition. Duration: 1 year (2016-17). Enhanced Chancellor s Fellowship, CUNY Graduate Center. Value: $92 000 USD + tuition. Duration: 5 years (2011-17). Prizes Oct 04, 2015. Best graduate student essay prize, for paper The Theory-Ladenness of Self Experience: Why Phenomenology of the Self is Not Simply Given, Western Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Meeting. Travel Awards Nov 2016. Oct 2016. June 2016. Dec 2015. Oct 2015. Oct 2015. National Science Foundation travel grant for the 25th Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Conference Presentation Support from the CUNY Graduate Center. Travel support from the Canadian Philosophical Association for the Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Congress 2016 in Calgary, Canada. Lodging support for Frontiers of Non-Classicality: Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy in Auckland, New Zealand. Conference Presentation Support from the CUNY Graduate Center. Full travel and lodging support for Directions in the Epistemology of Modality conference in Stirling, Scotland (one of two graduate student awards). 4
Teaching Teaching Positions 2012-15. Graduate Teaching Fellow, Brooklyn College. 2009-11. Teaching Assistant, Simon Fraser University. 2009. Teaching Assistant, University of Regina. Courses Taught Introduction to Philosophy. (10 sections) Courses TA d Introduction to Ethics. (1 section) Introduction to Critical Thinking. (2 sections) Knowledge and Reality. (1 section) Introduction to Philosophy. (1 section) Other Academic Positions 2015-16. Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Fellow, CUNY School of Law. 2011-12. Research Assistant, Jesse Prinz and Stephen Neale, CUNY Graduate Center. Service To Profession 2016-2017. Organizer, SWIP-Analytic, a chapter of the New York Society for Women in Philosophy. May 28, 2016. Dec 10-11, 2015. Oct 05, 2015. Chair, session on scientific realism at Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Calgary. Conference organizer, The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Grounding and Fundamentality, CUNY Graduate Center. Keynote speakers: Graham Priest and Jonathan Schaffer. Commentator, Ray Jennings and David McIntyre s The Linguistic Bounds of Personhood at Western Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Meeting, University of Saskatchewan. 5
To Department 2012-2016. Student Steering Committee/Executive Committee, CUNY Graduate Center. Elected member: 2015-16 (chair), 2014-15, 2013-14 Elected alternate: 2012-13 2015-16. Placement Committee, CUNY Graduate Center. 2015-16. Colloquium Committee, CUNY Graduate Center. 2014-15. Admissions Committee, CUNY Graduate Center. 2013-14. Student and Alumni Affairs Committee, CUNY Graduate Center. 2012-13. Graduate Teaching Fellow Representative, Brooklyn College. Dissertation Abstract There has been much recent work calling for the naturalization of metaphysics, including most famously James Ladyman and Don Ross polemic, Every Thing Must Go. But much work remains to further motivate and refine the call to naturalize metaphysics. My dissertation contributes to that work. Its central questions are: What relationship should metaphysics have to current science? Must good metaphysics be responsive to current science, and if so, how? Why should metaphysics be naturalized and what should its naturalization consist in? The negative portion of the dissertation attacks what I call free range metaphysics metaphysics, the content of which is constrained only by logical, aesthetic, and psychological demands, such as the demands for consistency, simplicity, intuitive plausibility, and explanatory power. I argue that, individually and jointly, the constraints on the content of free range metaphysics are insufficiently robust and their satisfaction fails to secure sufficient epistemic warrant. Therefore, free range metaphysics cannot claim to produce justified theories of reality. The positive portion of the project prescribes scientifically responsible metaphysics metaphysics conscientiously engaged with the theories and practices of the current sciences. I argue that scientifically responsible metaphysics is better constrained and supported than free range metaphysics and therefore can better claim to justify metaphysical theories. 6