Dylan Abney is a PhD student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His academic work is focused on metaphysics (ontology, modality, naturalness) and metaphilosophy (American pragmatism, the nature of philosophical dispute), though he also has interests in philosophy of language and mind.
What are you working on right now?
I’m working on a few different projects right now. Primarily I’ve been studying the nature of “debunking arguments” and how they might be used to threaten the justification of even our most firmly held beliefs about morality or ontology.
I’ve also recently been thinking about some revisionary (or non-commonsense) views in ontology —mainly the idea that there are a plenitude of objects spatially coincident with the objects we ordinarily countenance.
When I’m not working on debunking or ontology, I’m usually researching the American pragmatists —James and Peirce, especially.
What do you like to do outside work?
Outside of academia, I regularly contribute to a politics-and-philosophy blog and podcast, The Vim. The Vim is a collection of philosophers (including grad students, professors, and non-academics) who write about and discuss philosophy and politics. (We are always looking for new contributors — let us know if you’d like to get involved!)
In my free time, I’m usually playing guitar or playing baseball in the Santa Barbara MABL.
What would your childhood self say if someone told you that you would grow up to be a philosopher?
I think I would have been both surprised and not surprised. Surprised because for a while I wanted to be a lawyer — I went to law school before deciding that I wanted to get a graduate degree in philosophy. But in another way, I wouldn’t have been surprised, because I’ve always loved philosophy!
When did you last sing to yourself, or to someone else?
I’m not much of a singer, but I’ve had a couple songs from the new Mac DeMarco album stuck in my head for the last week.
Where is your favorite place you have ever traveled and why?
New York! I used to live there, so maybe this doesn’t count. But I love New York and try to make it back there when I can. I’m also a huge Yankees fan, so I go to Yankee Stadium whenever possible.
What’s your favorite quote?
It’s tough to choose a favorite, but here’s one I like from Quine:
“[W]e must not leap to the fatalistic conclusion that we are stuck with the conceptual scheme that we grew up in. We can change it bit by bit, plank by plank, though meanwhile there is nothing to carry us along but the evolving conceptual scheme itself. The philosopher’s task was well compared by Neurath to that of a mariner who must rebuild his ship on the open sea.
We can improve our conceptual scheme, our philosophy, bit by bit while continuing to depend on it for support; but we can not detach ourselves from it and compare it objectively with an unconceptualized reality. Hence it is meaningless, I suggest, to inquire into the absolute correctness of a conceptual scheme as a mirror of reality. Our standard for appraising basic changes of conceptual scheme must be, not a realistic standard of correspondence to reality, but a pragmatic standard. Concepts are language, and the purpose of concepts and of language is efficacy in communication and prediction. Such is the ultimate duty of language, science, and philosophy, and it is in relation to that duty that a conceptual scheme has finally to be appraised.”
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Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall is an editor at the Blog of the APA who currently teaches philosophy, religion, and education courses solely online for Montclair State University, Three Rivers Community College, and St. John’s University.
