Nathaniel Goldberg (he/him) Professor of Philosophy

Nathaniel Goldberg (he/him)

Washington Hall 323
540-458-8338
goldbergn@wlu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Nathaniel Goldberg joined W&L in 2008. He previously taught at Ohio University and Mount St. Mary’s University. He is past president of the Virginia Philosophical Association and faculty advisor for W&L's chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, the international philosophy honor society.

Professor Goldberg teaches classes in contemporary philosophy, especially Introduction to Logic and Philosophy of Language, and the history of Western philosophy, especially Ancient Greek Philosophy, Modern European Philosophy, and Kant. He has advised honors theses on personal identity, the social nature of meaning, Kant's transcendental idealism, the metaphysics of fictional objects, and the philosophy of language presupposed by W&L's Honor System, among others.

Besides dozens of articles, Professor Goldberg has written four books:

  1. Kantian Conceptual Geography (Oxford 2015) appeals to Kantian theses to investigate constitutive principles, meaning, possible worlds, and truth.
  2. Superhero Thought Experiments (Iowa 2019), with Professor Chris Gavaler (W&L, English), reads superhero comics as philosophical thought experiments.
  3. Revising Fiction, Fact, and Faith: A Philosophical Account (Routledge 2021, paperback 2022), also with Professor Gavaler, offers a philosophy of revision of fiction, fact, and faith, revealing insights into philosophy of language, metaphysics, and history and philosophy of science and religion.
  4. Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain the World (Bloomsbury 2024), also with Professor Gavaler, uses pop culture concepts to understand real-world changes in history textbooks, Supreme Court cases, science articles, and even trans names and human memory.

The odd-numbered books are for academic and the even-numbered ones are for general audiences. He is is currently writing a fifth book tentatively titled Philosophy of the History of Philosophy.

Education

Ph.D. Philosophy, Georgetown University (2004)
M.A. Philosophy, Tufts University (1999)
B.A. History, Brandeis University (1996) 

Research

Epistemology, Kant, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Language

Teaching

IN ROTATION
Ancient Greek Philosophy (Fall 2024 and every Fall)
Introduction to Logic (Fall 2024, Winter 2025, and every Fall and Winter)
Kant (probably Fall 2025 and every other year)
Modern European Philosophy (Winter 2024 and every Winter)
Philosophy of Language (probably Fall 2025 and every other year)
Philosophy & Science Fiction (Spring 2025 and every other Spring)

OUT OF ROTATION
American Pragmatism
Epistemology: Knowledge & Doubt
Honors Thesis Seminar
Intermediate Logic
Metaphysics: Existence & Reality
Philosophy of Time Travel

Selected Publications

MONOGRAPHS

  1. Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain the World, with Chris Gavaler (Bloomsbury 2024), https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350439658
  2. Revising Fiction, Fact, and Faith: A Philosophical Account, with Chris Gavaler (Routledge 2021, paperback 2022), https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003051602 
    • Interview on New Books Network (planned for 2024)
  3. Superhero Thought Experiments, with Chris Gavaler (University of Iowa Press 2019), https://doi.org/10.1353/book67461
    • Presentation for the National Humanities Center Humanities in Class Webinar Series (5 January 2022)
    • Reviews in Daily Philosophy (16 December 2022), popcultureshelf.com (23 January 2020), Shomeret: Masked Reviewer (18 November 2019), Diane Reviews Books and Joelendil's Kingdom of Books (15 September 2019), and Goodreads (multiple)
    • Reviews in Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 20, Teaching Philosophy 43 (2020): 98–102, and Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society 4 (2020): 239–43
    • Interview on Vox Populorum podcast (19 April 2021), Philosophy Talk radio program syndicated by Public Radio International (12 April 2020), WBDJ7, the Roanoke, VA, CBS-affiliate television station (22 October 2019), and Creativity in Progress podcast (10 October 2019)
  4. Kantian Conceptual Geography (Oxford University Press 2015), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190215385.001.0001
    • Symposium at Critique with critique by Paul Franco (University of Washington) and reply by me (24-25 August 2016)
    • Reviews in Kant-Studien 109 (2018): 185–88; Philosophical Forum 47 (2016): 79–82; and Notre Dame Philosophical Review (27 August 2015)

ARTICLES

  1. “How to Be an Antiracist Consequentialist,” with Chris Gavaler, Philosophy Now 161 (April/May 2024): 30–1
  2. “Kantian Views of Empirical Truth,” Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai Philosophia 68 (2023): 23–31, https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphil.2023.1.02
  3. “The Systematicity of Davidson’s Anti-Skeptical Arguments," Topoi 42 (2023): 47–59, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-022-09829-7 
  4. “How Should Philosophers Approach the History of Philosophy?” Journal of the Philosophy of History 16 (2022): 139–158, https://doi.org/10.1163/18722636-12341475 
  5. “A Dinosaur is a Story,” with Chris Gavaler, Aeon (21 October 2022): https://aeon.co/essays/from-the-jurassic-to-star-wars-the-drama-of-revision-goes-on
  6. “Perceiving Images and Styles," with Chris Gavaler, The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind, and the Arts (2021) 2: 131–46, https://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2021/01/008 
  7. "Comico, Ergo Sum," with Chris Gavaler, Philosophy Now 140 (Oct/Nov 2020): 34-35
  8. "There and Back Again: A Philosophy of Fictional Revision," with Chris Gavaler, Narrative 28 (2020) 304–26,  https://doi.org/10.1353/nar.2020.0015
  9. "Political Myths in Plato and Asimov," Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy 2 (2019): https://jsfphil.org/article/view/19078 
  10. "Big-Boy Philosophy," with Chris Gavaler, BleedingCool.com  (22 September 2019)
  11. "History of Philosophy and Conceptual Cartography," Analytic Philosophy 58 (2017): 119–38, https://doi.org/10.1111/phib.12097 
  12. "Kant on Demarcation and Discovery," Kant Yearbook 9 (2017) 43–62, https://doi.org/10.1515/kantyb-2017-0003 
  13. "Alan Moore, Donald Davidson, and the Mind of Swampmen," with Chris Gavaler, Journal of Popular Culture 50 (2017): 239–58
  14. "Beyond Bullshit," with Chris Gavaler, Philosophy Now 121 (August/September 2017): 22–23
  15. "Dr. Doom's Philosophy of Time," with Chris Gavaler, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 8 (2017): 321–40, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2016.1270220 
  16. "Marvels of Scepticism: René Descartes and Comic Book Sceptics," with Chris Gavaler, Foundations: The International Review of Science Fiction 126 (2017): 21–34; republished in French as “Les merveilles du scepticisme” in ReS Futurae: revue d’etudes sur la science-fiction 14 (2019), https://doi.org/10.4000/resf.4040 
  17. "Economy of the Comic Book Author's Soul," with Chris Gavaler, International Journal of Comic Art 18 (2016): 331–54
  18. "Davidson, Dualism, and Truth," Journal for the History of Analytic Philosophy 1 (2012): 0–19, https://doi.org/10.4148/jhap.v1i7.1590
  19. "Interpreting Thomas Kuhn as a Response-Dependence Theorist," International Journal of Philosophical Studies 19 (2011): 729–52, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09672559.2011.629369 
  20. "Historicism, Entrenchment, and Conventionalism," Journal for General Philosophy of Science 40 (2009): 259–76, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-009-9097-x 
  21. "Triangulation, Untranslatability, and Reconciliation," Philosophia 37 (2009): 261–80, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-008-9171-3 
  22. "Universal and Relative Rationality," Principia 13 (2009): 67–84 
  23. "Response-Dependence, Noumenalism, and Ontological Mystery," European Journal of Philosophy 17 (2008): 469–88, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0378.2007.00280.x 
  24. "Incommensurability, Relativism, Scepticism: Reflections on Acquiring a Concept" with Matthew Rellihan, Ratio 21 (2008): 147–67, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9329.2008.00392.x
  25. "Tension within Triangulation," Southern Journal of Philosophy 46 (2008): 367–83
  26. "Do Principles of Reason Have 'Objective but Indeterminate Validity'?," Kant-Studien 95 (2004): 405–25
  27. "E Pluribus Unum: Arguments against Conceptual Schemes and Empirical Content," Southern Journal of Philosophy 42 (2004): 411–38
  28. "Is Aristotle's Philosophy of Mind Functionalist?," Philosophical Writings 26 (2004): 47–69
  29. "The Principle of Charity," Dialogue 43 (2004): 671–83
  30. "McTaggart on Time," Logic and Logical Philosophy 13 (2004): 71–76
  31. "Actually v. Possibly the Case: On Davidson's Omniscient Interpreter," Acta Analytica 18 (2003): 143–60

BOOK CHAPTERS AND CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

  1. "Socrates’s City and Seldon’s Galaxy," Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and Philosophy, ed. Joshua Heter and Josef Thomas Simpson (Carus 2023), ch. 2 (15–24)
  2. "Men against Fire, MASS, and Morality" with Melina Bell, Humanity in a Black Mirror, ed. Zahi Zalloua and Jacob Blevins (McFarland 2023), 69–85, https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-97134-6_89-1 
  3. "Sands of Time," Discovering Dune, ed. Nathan Trevor Brierly and Dominic Nardi (McFarland 2002), 195–209
  4. "Paradigm Shifts: Eros, Epstein Drive, and Thomas Kuhn," accepted for The Expanse and Philosophy, ed. Jeffrey Nicholas (Wiley 2021), but Nicholas forgot to include the chapter, so the series editor published it on andPhilosophy.com, ed. William Irwin, at https://andphilosophy.com/2021/11/01/paradigm-shifts-epstein-drive-eros-and-thomas-kuhn/ (1 November 2021)
  5. "Watchmen as Philosophy: Illustrating Time and Free Will," with Chris Gavaler, The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy, ed. D. Kyle Johnson, The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy (Palgrave 2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97134-6_89-1
  6. "Yes, Roya as Philosophy: The Art of Submission," with Maria Chavez and Chris Gavaler, The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy (Palgrave 2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97134-6_106-1 
  7. "Loving Lassos: Wonder Woman, Kink, and Care," with Maria Chavez and Chris Gavaler, Wonder Woman and Philosophy (Wiley Publishing 2017), ch. 17 (188–97)
  8. "Wanting and Willing to Believe," with Chris Gavaler, X-Files and Philosophy (Open Court Publishing Company 2017), ch. 25 (233-40)
  9. "Time to Choose," with Chris Gavaler, Batman, Superman, and Philosophy (Open Court Publishing Company Press 2016), ch. 13 (143-52)
  10. "Psychological Eudaimonism and Interpretation in Greek Ethics" with Mark LeBar, in Rachana Kamtekar, ed., Virtue and Happiness: Essays in Honor of Julia Annas, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy (Oxford University Press 2012): 287–320, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646043.001.0001
  11. "Swampman, Response-Dependence, and Meaning," in Gerhard Preyer, ed. Donald Davidson on Truth, Meaning, and the Mental (Oxford University Press, 2012): 148-166, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199697519.001.0001
  12. "Where Does Knowledge Come From? Quine, Davidson, and Traditional Epistemology," in David Stewart, H. Gene Blocker, and James Petrik, eds., Fundamentals of Philosophy (Prentice Hall), 8th ed. (2012, ch. 18) and 7th ed. (2009, ch. 19, 210–18)
  13. "Practice Makes Perfect," Varieties of Pragmatism, ed. Bogdan Dicher (Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Faculty of European Studies, Babeş-Bolyai University, 2009)
  14. "Tension within Triangulation," Proceedings of the Ohio Philosophical Association 5 (2008)
  15. "Davidson, Triangulation, and a Suggestion from Peirce," Philosophy of Pragmatism (II): Salient Inquiries, ed. Bogdan Dicher and Adrian Ludusan (Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Faculty of European Studies, Babeş-Bolyai University, 2008)
  16. "Response-Dependence, Ethnocentrism, and Incommensurability," Proceedings of the Ohio Philosophical Association 4 (2007)
  17. "Davidson's Return to Kant," in José María Torralba, ed., Doscientos Años Después: Retornos y Relecturas de Kant [Two Hundred Years After: Returns and Re-Interpretations of Kant] (Publication Services of University of Navarra, Spain, 2005): 33–48 

 REVIEWS AND NOTES

  1. Review of Gabriele Gava, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and the Method of Metaphysics (Cambridge 2023), Philosophy in Review 43 (2023): 17–9, https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/21455
  2. Review of Helen De Cruz, Johan De Smedt, and Eric Schwitzgebel, eds. Philosophy through Science Fiction Stories: Exploring the Boundaries of the Possible (Bloomsbury 2021), Philosophy in Review 42 (2022): 11–13, https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/21038
  3. Review of Henry E. Allison, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Spinoza (Cambridge 2022), Philosophy in Review 42 (2022), 1–3, https://doi.org/10.7202/1092039ar
  4. Review of Huaping Lu-Adler, Kant and the Science of Logic: A Historical and Philosophical Reconstruction (Oxford University Press 2018), Philosophy in Review 39 (2019): 191–93, https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/19123
  5. Review of Lucy Allais, Manifest Reality: Kant’s Idealism and His Realism (Oxford University Press, 2015) in Philosophy in Review 36 (2016): 238-40, https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/16150
  6. Review of Nicholas Rescher, Concept Audits: A Philosophical Method (Lexington Books, 2016) in Notre Dame Philosophical Review (7 December 2016)
  7. Review of R. Lanier Anderson, The Poverty of Conceptual Truth: Kant's Analytic/Synthetic Distinction and the Limits of Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2015) in Kantian Review (2016): 146–51, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1369415415000369
  8. Review of Margaret Cameron and Robert J. Stainton, Linguistic Content: New Essays on the History of the Philosophy of Language (Oxford University Press, 2015) in Philosophy in Review 36 (2016): 154–56, https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/15921
  9. Review of Albert Casullo, Essays on A Priori Knowledge and Justification (Oxford University Press, 2014) in Philosophy in Review 35 (2015): 1–3
  10. Review of David Braine, Language and Human Understanding: The Roots of Creativity in Speech and Thought (Catholic University Press, 2014) in The Review of Metaphysics 68 (2014): 158–59
  11. Review of Daniel Dennett, Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking (W. W. Norton & Company, 2013) in Philosophy Now 101 (Mar/Apr 2014)
  12. Review of Maria Cristina Amoretti and Gerhard Preyer, eds., Triangulation: From an Epistemological Point of View (Ontos, 2011) in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (14 Oct 2011)
  13. Review of Roger Gibson, ed., Cambridge Companion to Quine (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W. V. Quine (Harvard University Press, 2004) in The Review of Metaphysics 58 (2005): 660–62
  14. Review of Predrag Cicovacki, Between Truth and Illusion: Kant at the Crossroads of Modernity (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002), in The Review of Metaphysics 57 (2004): 832­­–33
  15. Review of Marc Lange, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Physics (Blackwell Publishing, 2002), in The Review of Metaphysics 57 (2004): 631–33
  16. Review of Meir Buzaglo, Logic of Concept Expansion (Cambridge University Press, 2002), in The Review of Metaphysics 57 (2003): 141–43
  17. Inaugural Editor's Note, Eudaimonia: The Georgetown Philosophical Review 1 (2004): 4