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Dr James Miller's Outputs (25)

How to Misspell 'Paris' (2024)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (in press). How to Misspell 'Paris'. Philosophy,

One feature of language is that we are able to make mistakes in our use of language. Amongst other sorts of mistakes, we can misspeak, misspell, missign, or misunderstand. Given this, it seems that our metaphysics of words should be flexible enough t... Read More about How to Misspell 'Paris'.

Who’s Afraid of Conceptual Analysis? (2023)
Book Chapter
Miller, J. (2023). Who’s Afraid of Conceptual Analysis?. In M. Garcia-Godinez (Ed.), Thomasson on Ontology (85-108). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23672-3_5

Amie Thomasson’s work provides numerous ways to rethink and improve our approach to metaphysics. This chapter is my attempt to begin to sketch why I still think the easy approach leaves room for substantive metaphysical work, and why I do not think t... Read More about Who’s Afraid of Conceptual Analysis?.

Sameness of Word (2022)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2022). Sameness of Word. European Journal of Analytic Philosophy, 18(2), Article A2. https://doi.org/10.31820/ejap.18.2.2

Although the metaphysics of words remains a relatively understudied domain, one of the more discussed topics has been the question of how to account for the apparent sameness of words. Put one way, the question concerns what it is that makes two word... Read More about Sameness of Word.

Hyperintensionality and Ontological Categories (2022)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2022). Hyperintensionality and Ontological Categories. Erkenntnis, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-022-00646-3

In this paper, I discuss how to distinguish between ontological categories and ordinary categories. Using an argument against van Inwagen’s proposed account of what makes a category ontological as a springboard, I argue that if ontological categories... Read More about Hyperintensionality and Ontological Categories.

Merely Verbal Disputes and Common Ground (2022)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2023). Merely Verbal Disputes and Common Ground. Theoria, 89(1), 114-123. https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.12449

In this paper, I offer a new characterization of what makes a dispute merely verbal. This new characterization makes use of Stalnaker’s notion of ‘common ground’, building on the framework initially outlined by Jenkins. I argue that this common groun... Read More about Merely Verbal Disputes and Common Ground.

Does Linguistics Need (Weak) Emergence? (2022)
Book Chapter
Miller, J. (2022). Does Linguistics Need (Weak) Emergence?. In S. Wuppuluri, & I. Steward (Eds.), From Electrons to Elephants and Elections (23-38). (1). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92192-7_3

There are many different sorts of linguistic objects: words, sentences, paragraphs, phonemes, morphemes, and many more. There are also linguistic properties. That is, there are properties that seem, prima facie, to be (perhaps even uniquely) instanti... Read More about Does Linguistics Need (Weak) Emergence?.

What Counts as a 'Good Metaphysical Language'? (2021)
Book Chapter
Miller, J. (2021). What Counts as a 'Good Metaphysical Language'?. In J. Miller (Ed.), The Language of Ontology (102-118). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192895332.003.0007

The objectively best language is intended to refer to some metaphysically privileged language that ‘carves reality at its joints’ perfectly. That is, it is the kind of language that various ‘metaphysical deflationists’ have argued is impossible. One... Read More about What Counts as a 'Good Metaphysical Language'?.

The ontology of words: Realism, nominalism, and eliminativism (2020)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2020). The ontology of words: Realism, nominalism, and eliminativism. Philosophy Compass, 15(7), Article e12691. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12691

What are words? What makes two token words tokens of the same word‐type? Are words abstract entities, or are they (merely) collections of tokens? The ontology of words tries to provide answers to these, and related questions. This article provides an... Read More about The ontology of words: Realism, nominalism, and eliminativism.

Metaphysics as the Science of the Possible (2020)
Book Chapter
Miller, J. (2020). Metaphysics as the Science of the Possible. In R. Bliss, & J. Miller (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Metametaphysics (480-491). Routledge

This chapter considers the view that a central concern of metaphysics is what is possible. That is, the idea is that, unlike science, metaphysics studies not only what is actual, but the ways that reality could be. This view, if right, provides metap... Read More about Metaphysics as the Science of the Possible.

Natural Name Theory and Linguistic Kinds (2019)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2019). Natural Name Theory and Linguistic Kinds. Journal of Philosophy, 116(9), 494-508. https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil2019116930

The natural name theory, recently discussed by Johnson (2018), is proposed as an explanation of pure quotation where the quoted term(s) refers to a linguistic object such as in the sentence ‘In the above, ‘bank’ is ambiguous’. After outlining the the... Read More about Natural Name Theory and Linguistic Kinds.

Are All Primitives Created Equal? (2018)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2018). Are All Primitives Created Equal?. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 56(2), 273-292. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12279

Primitives are both important and unavoidable, and which set of primitives we endorse will greatly shape our theories and how those theories provide solutions to the problems that we take to be important. After introducing the notion of a primitive p... Read More about Are All Primitives Created Equal?.

Language and ontological emergence (2017)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2017). Language and ontological emergence. Philosophica (Gent. Printed), 91, 105-143

Providing empirically supportable instances of ontological emergence is notoriously difficult. Typically, the literature has focused on two possible sources. The first is the mind and consciousness; the second is within physics, and more specifically... Read More about Language and ontological emergence.

The Non-existence of Ontological Categories: A defence of Lowe (2016)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2016). The Non-existence of Ontological Categories: A defence of Lowe. Metaphysica, 17(2), 163-176. https://doi.org/10.1515/mp-2016-0012

This paper addresses the ontological status of the ontological categories as defended within E.J. Lowe’s four-category ontology (kinds, objects, properties/relations, and modes). I consider the arguments in Griffith (2015. “Do Ontological Categories... Read More about The Non-existence of Ontological Categories: A defence of Lowe.

Can an Ontological Pluralist Really be a Realist? (2016)
Journal Article
Miller, J. (2016). Can an Ontological Pluralist Really be a Realist?. Metaphilosophy, 47(3), 425-430. https://doi.org/10.1111/meta.12185

This article examines whether it is possible to uphold one form of deflationism towards metaphysics, ontological pluralism (as defined by Eklund 2008), whilst maintaining metaphysical realism. The focus therefore is on one prominent deflationist who... Read More about Can an Ontological Pluralist Really be a Realist?.

Lexicalisation and the Origin of the Human Mind (2013)
Journal Article
Hughes, T. J., & Miller, J. (2014). Lexicalisation and the Origin of the Human Mind. Biosemiotics, 7(1), 11-27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-013-9189-1

This paper will discuss the origin of the human mind, and the qualitative discontinuity between human and animal cognition. We locate the source of this discontinuity within the language faculty, and thus take the origin of the mind to depend on the... Read More about Lexicalisation and the Origin of the Human Mind.

The Unavoidable Dream Problem (2012)
Book Chapter
Miller, J. (2012). The Unavoidable Dream Problem. In D. Johnson, & W. Irwin (Eds.), Inception and Philosophy: Because It's Never Just a Dream. Wiley