Meg Wallace

Research Interests:
Metaphysics
Mereology
Fictionalism
Education

Ph.D. UNC-Chapel Hill 2009

Biography

Hi there. I'm an Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at University of Kentucky.

My primary research interests include the metaphysics of ordinary objects, mereology, mental fictionalism, and modality. My monograph, Parts and Wholes, was recently published with Cambridge University Press as part of their Elements in Metaphysics series (June 2023). It is an opinionated overview of philosophical issues involving parts and wholes, lightly guided by a diagnosis of why we shouldn’t conclude a priori that there are an odd number of things in the universe.

Two of my papers - “Mental Fictionalism” and “Mental Fictionalism: a foothold amid deflationary collapse” - are included in a recent volume Mental Fictionalism: Philosophical Explorations, Tamas Demeter, T. Parent, and Adam Toon (eds.), Routledge (2022), the first anthology dedicated to the topic of mental fictionalism.
 

For more info, visit my website. 

Publications - Professional Philosophy

Monographs - Books

2023 - Parts and Wholes. Cambridge Elements in Metaphysics. Cambridge University Press.

Articles - Journal & Volume Entries

2022 - “Mental fictionalism” in T. Demeter, T. Parent and A. Toon (eds.) Mental Fictionalism: Philosophical Explorations, Routledge 

2022 - "Mental fictionalism: a foothold amid deflationary collapse" in T. Demeter, T. Parent and A. Toon (eds.) Mental Fictionalism: Philosophical Explorations, Routledge 

2021 - “The Polysemy of ‘part’” Synthese 198 4331-4354 (2021); online (2019)

2020 - "Counterexamples and Commonsense: When (Not) to Tollens a Ponens" - Analysis 80(3): 544-558 

2019 - “The Lump Sum: a Theory of Modal Parts”  Philosophical Papers 48(3): 403-445 

2018 - “The Haecceitic Euthyphro Problem” co-authored with Jason Bowers Analysis 78(1): 13-22 

2016 - “Saving Mental Fictionalism from Cognitive Collapse” Res Philosophica 93(2): 405-424    

2015 - “Rearming the Slingshot?” Acta Analytica 30 (3): 283-292 

2014 - “The Argument from Vagueness for Modal Parts” dialectica 68 (3): 355-373 

2014 - “Composition as Identity, Mereological Essentialism, and Modal Parts” in Composition as Identity, eds. Baxter, D. & Cotnoir, A. OUP 

2013 - “Counterparts and Compositional Nihilism: A Reply to A. J. Cotnoir” Thought: a Journal in Philosophy vol. 2(3): 242-247

2011 - “Composition as Identity: Part 1” Philosophy Compass vol. 6(11): 804-816 

2011 - “Composition as Identity: Part 2” Philosophy Compass vol. 6(11): 817-827    

 

Public Philosophy & Pedagogy

2022 - "Circus and Philosophy: Teaching Aristotle through Juggling" (revised reprint) CircusTalk

2021 - "Circus and Philosophy: Teaching Aristotle through Juggling" Aesthetics for Birds

Under Contract - In Progress

Transworldism: A Theory of Modal Parts - manuscript proposal; in progress

"In Defense of the Spectacle" - in progress

"Transworld Persons" - in progress

 

Recently Taught Courses

My teaching interests continue to include a novel project of combing physical movement, performance, and the circus arts with philosophical study - a project started in 2017 with the creation of PHI 193: Circus and Philosophy. Recently, a large gym space for this class has been upgraded to accommodate multiple aerial apparatuses and circus equipment, allowing students greater room for movement and artistic exploration. This 'Circus Lab' is specifically intended to be an on-campus hub for interdisciplinary circus-centered education and research. PHI 193 will next be offered Spring 2024. 

You can learn a bit more about the class and the circus club on campus – Circus Cats – below:

 

Circus Lab

  • PHI 100: Intrioduction to Philosophy - Knowledge and Reality
  • PHI 120: An Introduction to Logic
  • PHI 193: Circus and Philosophy
  • PHI 315: Philosophy and Science Fiction (Honors and Non-Honors)
  • PHI 320: Symbolic Logic I
  • PHI 350: Metaphysics and Epistemology
  • PHI 520: Symbolic Logic II
  • PHI 550: Problems of Knowledge and Reality
  • Graduate Seminar: Unity  
  • Graduate Seminar: Fictionalism
  • Graduate Seminar: Space, Time, and Possible Worlds
  • Graduate Seminar: Paradoxes