BRIAN A. EPSTEIN
Philosophy Department
223 Major Williams Hall email: bepstein@vt.edu
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 website: www.epstein.org/brian
AOS: Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Social Science, Metaphysics
AOC: Logic, Kant, Wittgenstein,
Philosophy of Music,
History of Analytic Philosophy, Epistemology
Professional appointments
Sept. 2009-
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Tufts University, Medford, MA
Sept. 2004-Aug. 2009
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Associate, Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought
Associate, Program in Judaic Studies
EDUCATION
Ph.D, Philosophy
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2004
Dissertation title: Simple Words and Subtle Things: Social Kinds and the Making of Reference
Dissertation committee: John Etchemendy, John Perry, Kenneth Taylor, Mark Crimmins
M.St, Philosophy
University of Oxford, New College, Oxford, England, 1992
A.B. (Summa Cum Laude), Philosophy
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1990
Thesis in epistemology (advisor: David Lewis)
PUBLICATIONS
“Ontological Individualism Reconsidered,” Synthese 166, No. 1 (2009), 187-213.
“Grounds, Convention, and the Metaphysics of Linguistic Tokens,” Croatian Journal of Philosophy 9 No. 25 (2009), forthcoming.
“The Realpolitik of Reference,” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 89 (2008), 1-20.
“When Local Models Fail,” The Philosophy of the Social Sciences 38 (2008), 3-24.
“The Internal and the External in Linguistic Explanation,” Croatian Journal of Philosophy 8 No. 22 (2008), pp. 77-111.
Review of Language: A Biological Model by Ruth Millikan, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (April 2006).
Under Review
“Deceptive Properties and Modeling Social Change,” Collective Intentionality VI online (http://socialontology.berkeley.edu); under review for inclusion in Berkeley Univ. Press volume on collective intentionality.
“Economics and Nonsupervenience,” under review.
“The Nonlocality of Mental Content,” under review.
“Science Without Levels,” under review.
“Agent-Based Models and the Fallacies of Individualism,” under review.
“Introducing Terms in the Actual World,” under review.
PRESENTATIONS and invited talks
“A Theory of External Linguistic Objects,” International Conference on the Philosophy of Linguistics, Dubrovnik, Croatia, September 2008
“Nonlocal Properties and Modeling Social Change,” Collective Intentionality VI: Social Change, Berkeley, CA , July 8-11, 2008
“Economics and Nonsupervenience,” Sydney-Tilburg Conference on Reduction and the Special Sciences, Tilburg, Netherlands, April 10-12, 2008
“The Internal and the External in Linguistic Explanation,” Virginia Tech, November 2007
“Ontological Individualism Reconsidered,” University of Virginia, September 2007
“The Internal and the External in Linguistic Explanation,” International Conference on the Philosophy of Linguistics, Dubrovnik, Croatia, July 2007
“When Local Models Fail,” Philosophy of the Social Sciences Roundtable, Tampa, FL, March 2007
“Ontological Individualism,” Colloquium for the Alliance of Social, Political, and Cultural Thought, November 2006
“Intervening in the Aggregate,” The Social Sciences and Democracy, Ghent, Belgium, September 2006
Comments on George Ainslie’s “Picoeconomics and the Breakdown of the Will,” James M. Buchanan Colloquium, May 2006
“Experiences in the Academy,” Keasbey Foundation 50th Anniversary Conference, September 2005
“The Realpolitik of Reference,” 4th Barcelona Workshop on Reference, Barcelona, Spain, June 2005
Comments on Elaine Scarry’s “Visual Cognition,” Cognitive Science and the Humanities Conference, Stanford University, November 2004
“Reference Fixing and Social Kinds,” Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University, February 2004
“Conceptual Schemes and The Two Wittgensteins,” Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University, November 2003
“Playing it Loud at Half-Three: On Musical and Temporal Concepts,” Philosophy Colloquium, Stanford University, April 2003
“How to Succeed in Reference Without Really Trying,” Graduate Student Philosophy Colloquium, Stanford University, March 2003
HONORS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Institute for Society, Culture and the Environment, Virginia Tech, Research Fellowship, Spring 2008
Virginia Tech International Travel Grants, Fall 2007, Fall 2006, and Summer 2005
Humanities Summer Stipend Award, Virginia Tech, for work on History and the Constitution of Social Objects, Summer 2006
Geballe Dissertation Fellowship, year in residence at Stanford Humanities Center, 2003-2004
Mellon Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2002-2003
Stanford University Fellowship, for graduate study, 1996-1998, 2001-2002
Keasbey Foundation Scholarship, full tuition and stipend for study at University of Oxford in Philosophy, 1991-1992
Dickinson Thesis Prize, Princeton University, 1990
RECENT SERVICE
Profession
Reviewer for Erkenntnis, Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Perspectives on Science, Croatian Journal of Philosophy
Session Chair, Pacific APA, San Francisco, CA, April 2007
Referee, Stanford Humanities Center Fellowships, Fall 2008, Fall 2007, Fall 2006, Fall 2005
University
Member, Steering committee for college strategic plan, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, 2008-2009
Member, Discovery domain committee for college strategic plan, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, 2008-2009
Search committee, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, 2006-2007
Worked with Provost on development and improvement of University Strategic Plan, 2005-2006
Ongoing participation in design of new interdisciplinary PhD in Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought, 2005-present
Ongoing participation in facilitating coordination of University strategic plan with planning in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, 2005-present
Departmental
Member, Graduate committee (including graduate admissions, graduate curriculum and policies), 2005-2008
Member, Philosophy of Science search committee, 2005-2006, 2007-2008
Faculty advisor, Philosophy Club, 2004-2007
Chair, Curriculum Committee (including undergraduate curriculum, major requirements, and course offerings) , 2004-2005
Member, Ethical Theory search committee, 2004-2005
Member, Political Philosophy search committee, 2004-2005
Graduate admissions, 2004-2005
Logic curriculum design subcommittee, 2004-2005
Ongoing participation in department bylaws development, 2004-2006
Session chair, Symposium on Visual Images, April 2006
STUDENT ADVISING
Graduate Advising:
Principal advisor:
James Martin, 2005-2007
(Currently in PhD program at Princeton)
Master’s thesis: “Figuralism and Unsaturated Accounts of Number”
Rich Wilson, 2006-2008
Master’s thesis: “Davidson and Use-theories of Metaphor”
Matthew Sayball, 2007-2009
Master’s thesis: “Supervaluationist theories of Vagueness”
Committee member:
Heather Oldham, 2007-2009
Master’s thesis: “Kantian Substance”
Curtis Sommerlatte, 2006-2008
Master’s thesis: “Wittgenstein on Logical Necessity”
Robert Eiben, 2004-2005
Master’s thesis: “Interpreting a Dead Language”
Non-thesis advisees: Greg Kenenitz, 2006-2008; Ryan Wattanja, 2006-2008; Matthew Antonini, 2005-2007; Andrew Marder, 2005-2007; Matthew Kopec, 2004-2006; Nathan Mueller, 2004-2006
TA supervision: Sarah Hippolitus, So-Yeon Kim, James Martin, Emrah Aktunc, Matthew Sayball
Undergraduate advising:
Currently supervising 6 undergraduate advisees
Currently supervising honors work in philosophy of logic
2005-2008: Supervision of 12 undergraduate advisees, supervised independent study in logic
WORKSHOPS AND READING GROUPS ORGANIZED
Co-organizer, “Cognitive Science and the Humanities” at Stanford University, November 2004
Leader, reading group on Frege and Russell on philosophy of language 2005-2006
Co-leader, reading group on McDowell and Evans 2004-2005
Facilitated student organization of student conference on Design and the Existence of God, April 2005
Additional RECENT CONFERENCES ATTENDED
Biannual Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vancouver, BC, November 2006
“Philosophy, History, and Methodology of Error,” Virginia Tech, June 2006
“Scientific Images: Learning from Pictures,” Virginia Tech, April 2006
“Saul Kripke: Philosophy, Language, and Logic,” New York, NY, January 2006
Eastern American Philosophical Association, December 2005, New York, NY; December 2004, Boston, MA; December 2003, Washington, DC
"If Men Were Angels: The Role of Counterfactual Motivational Assumptions in Social Analysis,” 2005 James M. Buchanan Colloquium, Virginia Tech, May 2005
“Semantics Fest 2005,” Stanford University, March 2005
“De Re Belief,” Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, September 2004
“De Re Representation,” Yale University, November 2003
COURSES TAUGHT
Graduate:
Speech Acts and Pragmatics, Virginia Tech, Spring 2009
Metalogic (formal results through Löwenheim-Skolem and Gödel incompleteness), Virginia Tech, Spring 2006, Spring 2009. Crosslisted graduate/undergraduate class.
Symbolic Logic (first-order logic, proofs, translation, and introduction to metatheory), Virginia Tech, Fall 2004, Fall 2005, Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008
Groups and Individuals (seminar on realism and methodological individualism, with a focus on the philosophy of economics), Virginia Tech, Spring 2005. Crosslisted with Department of Economics.
The Construction of Social Reality (seminar on the metaphysics of social kinds and the semantics of social kind terms), Virginia Tech, Spring 2004
Musical Indeterminacy (composition and philosophy of music seminar), Stanford University, Spring 2002. Team-taught with Mark Applebaum, composer and associate professor of music.
Undergraduate:
Metalogic (crosslisted with graduates), Virginia Tech, Spring 2006, Spring 2009
Modern Logic and Its Development (intermediate symbolic logic, up to polyadic quantified logic with identity, proof strategies, and translations), Virginia Tech, Fall 2004, Fall 2005, Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008
Language and Logic (critical thinking, argumentation, and introduction to Aristotelian syllogistic and sentential logic), Virginia Tech, Fall 2004
As Teaching Assistant, Stanford University:
Philosophy of Science (Godfrey-Smith)
Mathematical Logic and Metatheory (Antonelli)
Introduction to Greek Philosophy (Bobonich)
Introduction to Modern Philosophy (Anderson)
ECONOMICS AND Leadership EXPERIENCE
1999 – 2001 Took three year leave from graduate work at Stanford to found venture-funded internet company. Also in 2001 advised Korean government on curriculum for technology entrepreneurs.
1993 – 1996 Economics and strategy consultant, focusing on economic modeling, finance, and technology, for Monitor Company and Palo Alto Ventures. Based in Cambridge MA and Palo Alto, CA; major projects in New York, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, and Eindhoven.
Graduate Coursework
In Philosophy:
Aristotle’s Metaphysics (Shields)
Hellenistic Philosophy (Bobonich)
Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (Walker)
Kant to Hegel I: Kant’s Critiques (Förster)
Kant to Hegel II: Fichte to Hegel (Förster)
Marx and Weber (Satz)
Phenomenology: Husserl (Føllesdal)
Seminar on Intersubjectivity (Føllesdal)
Freedom of the Will (Bratman)
Reflexivity and Theories of the Self (Perry)
Mental Representation (Dretske)
Topics in the Phil. of Language: Brandom’s Making it Explicit (Kremer)
Topics in the Phil. of Language: Direct Reference (Taylor)
Philosophy of Linguistics (Wasow)
First-Order Logic (Kremer)
Logic and the Incompleteness Theorems (Mints)
Intensional Logic (van Benthem)
Theories of Truth (Feferman)
1899-1930: From Hilbert to Brouwer (Antonelli)
History of Political Philosophy (Philpp)
Contemporary Political Philosophy (Philpp)
Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Mathematics (Mancosu)
Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations (Hacker)
Core seminars:
Metaphysics and Epistemology Core (Dupré and Godfrey-Smith)
Moral Philosophy Core (Bratman and Cohon)
Philosophy of Language Core (Føllesdal)
Teaching Methods (Anderson)
Dissertation Development Seminar (Satz)
In other departments:
Comparative Literature, History, English: Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (Baker and Bender)
History: Core Colloquium in 20th Century History (Zipperstein)
History: 17th to 19th century Jewish History (Zipperstein)
Religious Studies: Spiritualizing the Law: Philosophers, Pietists, and Mystics in Jewish Culture (Fishman)
Religious Studies: Seminar on Modern Judaism (Eisen)
Music: Elements of Music I (Applebaum)
Music: Musique Concrète in the Digital Era (Applebaum)