I'm a fourth year graduate student in the philosophy section of the MIT Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. Before MIT, I studied Mathematics and Philosophy at Duke University. Here's my CV.
I'm mainly interested in questions in fundamental metaphysics (broadly construed to include questions about mathematics, physics, and consciousness) and formal epistemology. Some of my work lies at the intersection of these two interests.
Please feel free to email me at dbuiles [at] mit.edu if you'd like a draft of any of the papers below.
Publications
A Puzzle About Rates of Change - Philosophical Studies (forthcoming) - We develop a problem for reductionist theories of rates of change and evaluate various possible replies (with Trevor Teitel).
Time-Slice Rationality and Self-Locating Belief - Philosophical Studies (forthcoming) - I argue that the thesis of Time-Slice Rationality has important consequences for how one ought to accommodate self-locating evidence.
A Paradox of Evidential Equivalence - Mind (forthcoming) - I present a pair of cases which seem to suggest that we should treat evidence as a hyperintensional notion. I then explore some of the costs and benefits of such a view.
Pluralism and the Problem of Purity - Analysis (2019) - I first argue that a recent argument by Trenton Merricks against Ontological Pluralism is unsound. I then go on to present a new dilemma against Ontological Pluralism which builds on Merricks' original dilemma.
Self-Locating Evidence and the Metaphysics of Time - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (2019) - I argue that Presentism and Eternalism, in both classical and relativistic settings, make different observational predictions using self-locating evidence.
Work in Progress
Why Chance Constrains Credence - We present a unified theory of chance and draw out some of its consequences (with Jack Spencer).
Indefinite Extensibility and its Consequences - I develop and defend several first-order consequences of indefinite extensibility.
Consciousness and Rates of Change - I argue that a popular view in the philosophy of physics regarding rates of change is incompatible with a popular view in the philosophy of mind regarding phenomenal properties. I then sketch a view which accounts for this tension in a particularly unified and elegant way.
Synthesizing Humeanism and Non-Humeanism - I develop a view which seeks to reconcile the core commitments of both Humeanism and non-Humeanism.
Guessing with Imprecise Credences - We assess the accuracy of imprecise credences using the framework of educated guesses (with Miriam Schoenfield and Sophie Horowitz).
Objects and Properties - I develop a view which seeks to avoid some of the main problems with both the substratum theory and the bundle theory.
Countabilism - We distinguish several different ways one might argue for the thesis that every infinity is countable, and we then draw out some consequences of our preferred strategy (with Jessica Wilson).
De Se Eliminativism - I argue that certain metaphysical theories imply that there are no de se facts. I then draw out some epistemological and meta-metaphysical consequences of this fact.
I'm mainly interested in questions in fundamental metaphysics (broadly construed to include questions about mathematics, physics, and consciousness) and formal epistemology. Some of my work lies at the intersection of these two interests.
Please feel free to email me at dbuiles [at] mit.edu if you'd like a draft of any of the papers below.
Publications
A Puzzle About Rates of Change - Philosophical Studies (forthcoming) - We develop a problem for reductionist theories of rates of change and evaluate various possible replies (with Trevor Teitel).
Time-Slice Rationality and Self-Locating Belief - Philosophical Studies (forthcoming) - I argue that the thesis of Time-Slice Rationality has important consequences for how one ought to accommodate self-locating evidence.
A Paradox of Evidential Equivalence - Mind (forthcoming) - I present a pair of cases which seem to suggest that we should treat evidence as a hyperintensional notion. I then explore some of the costs and benefits of such a view.
Pluralism and the Problem of Purity - Analysis (2019) - I first argue that a recent argument by Trenton Merricks against Ontological Pluralism is unsound. I then go on to present a new dilemma against Ontological Pluralism which builds on Merricks' original dilemma.
Self-Locating Evidence and the Metaphysics of Time - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (2019) - I argue that Presentism and Eternalism, in both classical and relativistic settings, make different observational predictions using self-locating evidence.
Work in Progress
Why Chance Constrains Credence - We present a unified theory of chance and draw out some of its consequences (with Jack Spencer).
Indefinite Extensibility and its Consequences - I develop and defend several first-order consequences of indefinite extensibility.
Consciousness and Rates of Change - I argue that a popular view in the philosophy of physics regarding rates of change is incompatible with a popular view in the philosophy of mind regarding phenomenal properties. I then sketch a view which accounts for this tension in a particularly unified and elegant way.
Synthesizing Humeanism and Non-Humeanism - I develop a view which seeks to reconcile the core commitments of both Humeanism and non-Humeanism.
Guessing with Imprecise Credences - We assess the accuracy of imprecise credences using the framework of educated guesses (with Miriam Schoenfield and Sophie Horowitz).
Objects and Properties - I develop a view which seeks to avoid some of the main problems with both the substratum theory and the bundle theory.
Countabilism - We distinguish several different ways one might argue for the thesis that every infinity is countable, and we then draw out some consequences of our preferred strategy (with Jessica Wilson).
De Se Eliminativism - I argue that certain metaphysical theories imply that there are no de se facts. I then draw out some epistemological and meta-metaphysical consequences of this fact.