Dr David Macarthur

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy

Room S412, Main Quad A14
Ph +61-2-9351 3193
Fax +61-2-9351 6660

Teaching and Research Interests

Skepticism, Pragmatism, Metaphysical Quietism, Philosophy of Psychology, History of Modern Philosophy, Wittgenstein, Aesthetics and Art.

Biographical Information

Dr David Macarthur MBBS, BA (Hons) (Syd), PhD (Harvard) joined the Department of Philosophy in July 2003. Previously, David was an Assistant Professor at Tufts University (1999-2000) and a Research Fellow in philosophy at Macquarie University (2000-3).

Major Publications

Edited Books

• 2012. Putnam, Hilary. Philosophy in an Age of Science: Physics, Mathematics, and Skepticism, eds. Mario De Caro & David Macarthur, Harvard University Press.
• 2010. Naturalism and Normativity, ed. David Macarthur & Mario De Caro. Columbia University Press.
• 2004. Naturalism in Question, ed. David Macarthur & Mario De Caro. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
• 2005. Italian Translation of Naturalism in Question: La Mente E La Natura: per un naturalismo liberalizzato, Rome: Fazi.

Book Chapters

• 2012. “Putnam and the Philosophical Appeal to Common Sense.” In Reading Putnam, ed. Maria Baghramian. London: Routledge. Forthcoming.
• 2012. “Introduction: Hilary Putnam, Artisanal Polymath of Philosophy.” In Putnam, H. Philosophy in the Age of Science. Harvard University Press.
• 2010. “Introduction: Science, Nature and the Problem of Normativity.” In Naturalism and Normativity, ed. De Caro & Macarthur. New York: Columbia University Press. Co-written with Mario De Caro.
• 2010. “Taking the Human Sciences Seriously.” In Naturalism and Normativity, ed. De Caro & Macarthur. New York: Columbia University Press.
• “Pragmatism, Quasi-realism and the Global Challenge.” In New Pragmatists. ed. C. Misak, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Co-written with Huw Price. ii) 2009.(Download as PDF)
• “Wittgenstein and Expressivism.” In The Later Wittgenstein on Language, London: Palgrave Macmillan. 81-95. (Download as PDF)
• "Skepticism, Self-Knowledge and Responsibility" in Stephen Hetherington, ed., Aspects of Knowing: Epistemological Essays (Oxford, Elsevier Press, 2006) (Download as PDF)
• “Introduction: The Nature of Naturalism," Naturalism In Question, ed. De Caro & Macarthur, 2004. Co-authored with Mario De Caro. (Download as PDF)
• “Naturalism & Skepticism,” Naturalism In Question, ed. De Caro & Macarthur, 2004. (Download as PDF)
• "On Putnam’s Return to Natural Realism," Hilary Putnam und die Tradition des Pragmatismus ed. Marie-Luise Raters & Marcus Willaschek. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002.
• Dissertation: Skeptical Reason and Inner Experience: A Re-examination of the Problem of the External World (Dissertation: Harvard, 1999) Reprints available from UMI Services, USA.

Refereed Journal Articles

• 2011. “Pragmatist Doubt, Dogmatism and Bullshit,” M/C Journal: “Doubt,” Johannes Klabber &, Anna Poletti eds., vol. 14, no. 1. On-line:
• “Putnam, Pragmatism and the Fate of Metaphysics,” European Journal of Analytic Philosophy. In press (2009) (Download as PDF)
• “Pragmatism, Metaphysical Quietism and the Problem of Normativity,” Philosophical Topics. (2009) 36.1. (Download as PDF)
• “Quinean Naturalism in Question,” Philo. (2008) 11.1. (Download as PDF)
• “Naturalizing the Human or Humanizing Nature: Science, Nature and the Supernatural,” Erkenntnis 61 (2004): 29-51. (Download as PDF)
• “Putnam’s Natural Realism and the Question of a Perceptual Interface,” Philosophical Explorations 7 (2004): 167-181. (Download as PDF)
• “McDowell, Skepticism and the ‘Veil of Perception,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81, (2003): 175-190. (Download as PDF)
• “The Seriousness of Doubt and Our Natural Trust in the Senses in the First Meditation,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 33 (2003): 159-182. (Download as PDF)

Encyclopaedia Articles

• 2010. “Analytic Aesthetics.” In Australasian Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. N. Trakakis et al. Monash University Press. (Download as PDF)
• 2008. “Naturalism.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition. Ed. W.A. Darity Jr. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, pp.441-443. (Download as PDF)

Book Reviews

• Review of Horwich, P. Reflections on Meaning (OUP, 2005)
  (Download as PDF)
• Review of McManus, D. Wittgenstein and Skepticism (Routledge, 2004) (Download as PDF)
• Review of Broughton, J. Descartes’s Method of Doubt (Princeton, 2002.)
  (Download as PDF)

Current Teaching

• Phil 1011: Beauty
• Phil 1010: Knowledge.
• Skepticism
• The Later Wittgenstein
• Naturalism
• Aesthetics and Art
• Pragmatism
• Themes from Cavell

Supervision

• Alex Angel,
• David Chua (hons),
• Tristan Haze,
• Lara Radford Sutton (hons),
• Alastair Taylor (hons),
• Chris Wilcox,
• Ryan Wittingslow.