Martin Thomson-Jones
Oberlin College, USA
Spring Term 2005
Things and Their Properties:
The Metaphysics of Quantum Theory

Martin has two main research projects underway. The first is concerned with a variety of metaphysical questions which arise in connection with the interpretation of quantum theory - questions about part-whole relations, dispositions, properties, causation, the identity and individuation of physical objects, and indeterminacy. The second brings together a critique of the semantic view of theory structure, an attempt to clarify philosophical talk about models, and an exploration of some questions about idealization. Martin got his PhD at Stanford University, and was an Assistant Professor at Princeton University and U.C. Berkeley before arriving at Oberlin College, where he is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department. He used to be Martin Jones, until, in the summer of 2004, he married Kate Thomson, an aesthetician, in a heavy-handed attempt to bring Snow's two cultures together. When not doing philosophy or watching movies, he enjoys playing the Gibson SG Kate got him for his birthday (which, by a remarkable piece of good fortune, comes with headphones).