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Academics - Philosophy Faculty & Staff

Academics - Philosophy Faculty & Staff

Matthew Carlson

Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dept Chair

CONTACT:

Center Hall 214
765-361-6350
carlsonm@wabash.edu
Curriculum vitae

Picture of Carlson, Matthew

Matt Carlson is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wabash College. Before joining the Wabash community in 2014, he earned his PhD at Indiana University, and taught for one year at the University of New Mexico.

Professor Carlson’s research primarily concerns a nest of related issues in epistemology, philosophy of logic, philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, and the history of analytic philosophy (particularly Frege, Carnap, and Quine). The main aim of his research is to explain how rational inquirers---including us, hopefully!---can be justified, and yet fallible, in their acceptance of logical principles. His central idea is that basic logical principles play an indispensable methodological role in our inquiries, and can be justified by virtue of their playing this role, but like all of our best theories, they are nevertheless open to revision. Carlson’s teaching interests include all of these areas, as you might expect, but he also enjoys teaching courses in early modern philosophy and political philosophy.

In the rare moments when he’s not doing philosophy, Carlson enjoys lifting weights, cooking, taking photographs, listening to interesting music, and watching football. He is very much looking forward to attending the football games at Wabash this Fall!

EDUCATION

PhD Philosophy, Indiana University, 2013
BA Philosophy, Oberlin College, 2005
BMus Tuba Performance, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, 2005

RECENT COURSE OFFERINGS

PHI 269: Skepticism and Knowledge
PHI 270: Elementary Symbolic Logic
PHI 272: Philosophy of Science

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

“What’s Basic About Basic Logical Principles?”, 2013 meeting of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association

“Rule-Circularity and the Justification of Deduction”, 2013 Notre Dame/Northwestern Graduate Epistemology Conference

“Logic and the Structure of the Web of Belief”, 2013 Early Analytic Philosophy Conference, Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne

“Why Not a Theory of Meaning?”, 2012 Arché Conference on the Foundations of Logical Consequence, University of St Andrews

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

“Logic and the Structure of the Web of Belief” Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy (forthcoming)

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