David Sanson

Department of Philosophy
Illinois State University
Normal, IL 61790

Employment

• Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Illinois State University, 2018–present
• Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Illinois State University, 2012–18
• Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005–12

Education

• Ph.D., Philosophy, UCLA, 2005
  • Dissertation: Being and Time: The Metaphysics of Past and Future in a Dynamic World
  • Committee: Calvin Normore (chair), David Kaplan, Terry Parsons, Philippe Schlenker
• M.A., Philosophy, UCLA, 2003
• B.A., Philosophy, Reed College, 1996
  • Thesis Advisor: Mark Hinchliff

Areas of Specialization and Competence

• AOS: Metaphysics, Medieval Philosophy, History of Logic
• AOC: Epistemology, Philosophy of Language, Logic, Ancient Philosophy

Research

Books

• Ahmed Alwishah and David Sanson The Final Word: Al-Dawani and the Liar Paradox in the Islamic World (Oxford University Press, 2026).

Articles

• Ahmed Alwishah and David Sanson “The Liar Paradox in the Islamic World,” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman (forthcoming).
• David Sanson, Ben Caplan, and Cathleen Muller “Counting Again,” Grazer Philosophische Studien 94, nos. 1–2 (2017): 69–82, https://doi.org/10.1163/18756735-000017.
• David Sanson and Ahmed Alwishah “Al-Taftazani on the Liar Paradox,” Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy 4 (2017): 100–124, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198786368.003.0005.
• Ben Caplan and David Sanson “Presentism and Truthmaking,” Philosophy Compass 6, no. 3 (2011): 196–208, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2010.00380.x.
• David Sanson and Ben Caplan “The Way Things Were,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 81, no. 1 (2010): 24–39, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2010.00357.x.
• Ahmed Alwishah and David Sanson “The Early Arabic Liar: The Liar Paradox in the Islamic World from the Mid-Ninth to the Mid-Thirteenth Centuries CE,” Vivarium 47, no. 1 (2009): 97–127, https://doi.org/10.1163/156853408X345909a.

Book Reviews

• David Sanson “Objects: Nothing Out of the Ordinary, by Korman, Daniel Z.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 96, no. 2 (2017): 416–16, https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2017.1343858.

Presentations

• “Ibn Adī and al-Dashtakī on the Liar Paradox”
  • Second Pan-American Symposium on the History of Logic, UCLA, June 2023
• “Al-Dawānī on Truth, Imitation, and the Liar”
  • Workshop on Theories of Paradox in the Middle Ages, Arché Research Centre, University of St. Andrews, April 2020. Postponed to October 2020 and moved online, due to COVID-19.
• “The Liar Paradox in the Arabic Tradition”
  • Virtual Medieval Colloquium 12: Theories of Paradox in the Middle Ages, organized by Robert Pasnau, sponsored by the Paris Institute for Advanced Studies, June 2020.
• “Potential Parts”
  • California Metaphysics Conference, University of Southern California, January 2020
  • Philosophy Department Colloquium, Illinois State University, April 2019
  • Philosophy Department Colloquium, Auburn University, February 2016
  • Midwest Annual Workshop in Metaphysics, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, October 2015
• “Al-Dawānī on the Unity of the Declarative Sentence”
  • Morris Colloquium on Medieval Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, April 2018
  • Philosophy Department Colloquium, University of Kansas, January 2018
• “Stable Content with Shifty Constituents”
  • Manitoba Metaphysics of Propositions Workshop, University of Manitoba, November 2016
• “Al-Taftazānī on the Liar Paradox”
  • NEH Summer Institute, “Between Medieval and Modern: Philosophy from 1300-1700”, University of Colorado, Boulder, July 2015
• “Heterogeneous Simples”
  • NEH Summer Institute, “Between Medieval and Modern: Philosophy from 1300-1700”, University of Colorado, Boulder, July 2015
• “Temporal Passage”
  • Department of Physics Informal Seminar, Illinois State University, November 2014
• “Worlds Enough for Junk”
  • Western Canadian Philosophical Association, Winnipeg, October 2013
  • Illinois State University, February 2012
  • Philosophy Department Colloquium, Kenyon College, November 2011
• “Passage and Past Facts”
  • Workshop on the Metaphysics of Time, Université de Lausanne, July 2013
• “Frivolous Fictions”
  • OSU-Maribor-Rijeka Conference on Art and Reality, June 2013
• “Locality and Necessity” (with Ben Caplan)
  • Pacific APA, Pasadena, CA, March 2008 (refereed)
• “The Essentially Unreal Past”
  • Central APA, Chicago, IL, April 2007
• “The Way Things Were” (with Ben Caplan)
  • Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Congress, University of Western Ontario, May 2005 (refereed)
  • Central APA, Chicago, IL, April 2005 (refereed)
  • Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference, University of Idaho and Washington State University, April 2005 (refereed)
• “The Once Present and the Now Past”
  • University of Rochester, February 2005
  • University of Manitoba, January 2005
  • Ohio State University, January 2005

Comments

• Robert Pasnau, “Ibn Sīnā’s Infinitely Deep Pool of Necessarily Possible Objects.”
  • Central APA, Chicago, Feburary 2026
• Mika Perälä, “Aristotle on Incidental Perception”
  • Workshop for the Representation and Reality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Aristotelian Tradition Research Program, University of Gothenburg, April 25-26 2019.
• Jakob Leth Fink, “Introduction to Aristotle’s De Sensu et Sensibilius”
  • Workshop for the Representation and Reality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Aristotelian Tradition Research Program, University of Gothenburg, April 25-26 2019.
• Ana Maria Mora Marquez, “Abstraction and the Intellection of Essences in the Latin Tradition”
  • Workshop for the Representation and Reality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Aristotelian Tradition Research Program, University of Gothenburg, April 25-26 2019.
• Michael S. Christensen, “John of Jandun on How to Think Many Things at the Same Time”
  • Workshop for the Representation and Reality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Aristotelian Tradition Research Program, University of Gothenburg, April 25-26 2019.
• Seyed Mousavian, “Avicenna on the Statements about Nonexistents”
  • Workshop for the Representation and Reality: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Aristotelian Tradition Research Program, University of Gothenburg, April 25-26 2019.
• Michael Szlachta, “An Intellectualist Conception of Human Freedom”
  • Pacific APA, San Diego, March 2018
• Kathryn Ritchie, “Social Structures and the Ontology of Social Groups”
  • Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference, “Metaphysics on the Mountain 2,” Sun Valley, Idaho, March 2017
• Jay Newhard, “A Truth-Conditional Indeterminacy Solution to the Liar”
  • Central APA, Chicago, March 2016
• Dan Zeman, “The Variadic Functions Approach to Tense”
  • Pacific APA, San Diego, April 2014
• Simona Vucu, “Henry of Ghent and Godfrey of Fontaines on Sine Qua Non Causes and Causation”
  • Central APA, Chicago, February 2014
• Jeff Snapper, “Egalitarianism is Brutal”
  • Illinois Philosophical Association, Edwardsville, November 2013
• Daniel Rabinoff, “Incoherence in an Ageing Universe”
  • Western Canadian Philosophical Association, Winnipeg, October 2013
• David Liebesman, “Necessarily, Sherlock Holmes is not a Person”
  • Illinois Philosophical Association, Champaign-Urbana, November 2012
• Ned Markosian, “A New Answer to the Special Composition Question”
  • Pacific APA, Seattle, WA, April 2012
• Amy Seymour, “The Advantages of Falsism”
  • Central APA, Chicago, IL, February 2012
• Dana Goswick, “Counterfactual Analysis & Causal Overdetermination”
  • Pacific APA, Portland, OR, March 2006
• Marie Pannier, “Presentism and Singular Propositions”
  • Western Canadian Philosophical Association Meeting, Winnipeg, October 2005
• Kelly Trogdon, “Dualism, Mental Causation, and Counterfactuals”
  • Pacific APA, San Francisco, March 2003.

Teaching

Graduate Seminars

• 863: Metaphysics of Modality (Spring 2012)
• 999: Dissertation Seminar (Spring 2011)
• 700: First Year Proseminar (Fall 2011 and Fall 2008)
• 863: Tense and Passage (Winter 2010)
• 863: Nonexistent Objects (Fall 2007)
• 863: Time and Change (Spring 2006)

Undergraduate Courses (at ISU)

• 350: Topics in the History of Philosophy: Lying, Deception, and Trust (Spring 2024)
• 305: Topics in Contemporary Philosophy: Philosophy of Art (Fall 2022)
• 363: Topics in Metaphysics & Epistemology: Ordinary Objects (Spring 2020)
• 305: Topics in Contemporary Philosophy: Games (Fall 2017)
• 363: Topics in Metaphysics & Epistemology: Truth and Reality (Spring 2016)
• 363: Topics in Metaphysics & Epistemology: Properties and Kinds (Spring 2015)
• 363: Topics in Metaphysics & Epistemology: Possibility and Necessity (Fall 2013)
• 305: Topics in Contemporary Philosophy: Ordinary Objects (Spring 2013)
• 258: Philosophy in the Islamic World (Fall 2023)
• 257: Medieval Philosophy (Fall 2018)
• 251: Visions of the Self (Fall 2015, Fall 2013, Fall 2012)
• 205: Philosophy of Language (Fall 2024, Spring 2021, Spring 2017)
• 201: Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology (Spring 2026, Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2019, Spring 2018, Fall 2016)
• 112: Symbolic Logic (every term since Spring 2013)
• 101: Introduction to Philosophy (Fall 2025, Summer 2013)

Undergraduate Courses (at OSU)

• 670: Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Religion: Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Eternity (Fall 2010)
• 663: Advanced Metaphysics: Modality and Time (Winter 2009)
• 463: Introduction to Metaphysics (Winter 2010, Winter 2007)
• 302: Medieval Philosophy (Spring 2012, Fall 2008, Fall 2007, Spring 2007, Winter 2006)
• 301: Ancient Philosophy (Winter 2012, Fall 2010, Fall 2009, Winter 2009, Winter 2008, Winter 2007)
• 250: Symbolic Logic (Spring 2011, Winter 2008)
• 150: Informal Logic (Winter 2006)
• 101: Introduction to Philosophy (Fall 2009 (Honors), Spring 2007, Spring 2006 (Honors))

Undergraduate Courses (at UCLA)

• 119: Topics in Early Modern Philosophy: Place and Nature (Summer 2003)
• 31: Symbolic Logic (Summer 2001)

Teaching Presentations

• ISU Undergraduate Philosophy Society:
  • “Potential Parts” (October 2018)
  • “Shadows” (April 2018, November 2016)
  • “Ontology of Music” (March 2016)
  • “Material Composition” (March 2015)
  • “The Rule Following Paradox” (December 2014)
  • “Paradoxes” (April 2014)
  • “Holes” (December 2013)
• OSU Undergraduate Philosophy Club:
  • “Nonstandard Tense Realism” (March 2009)
  • “Fatalism and Future Contingents” (November 2005)

Graduate and Undergraduate Advising

Dissertation Committee Member

• Scott Brown, Essays Modality and Instantiation (OSU), 2016
• Wesley Cray, Modal Inconstancy: How Our Interests Influence How Things Could Be (OSU), 2012
• Cathy Muller, Harry Potter and the Rescue from Realism: A Novel Defense of Anti-Realism about Fictional Objects (OSU), 2012
• Eric Carter, Objectivity and Communication (OSU), 2011
• Vassilis Tsompanidis, Tensed Belief (UC Santa Barbara), 2010

Graduate Qualifying Exam Committee Member

• David Blanks, on the metaphysics of dispositions, 2012
• Scott Brown, on the limits of contingency, 2011
• James McGlothlin, on god and logical truth, 2011
• Wesley Cray, on modality de re, 2009
• Patrick Reeder, on infinitesimals and contact, 2009
• Cathy Muller, on the ontology of fictional characters, 2008

Graduate Candidacy Exam Committee Member

• Raleigh Miller, on perspectival facts, 2012
• David Blanks, on the metaphysics of dispositions, 2011
• Ben Horne, on well-being and the non-identity problem, 2011
• Scott Brown, on universals, 2010
• Daniel Pearlberg, on mental causation and over-determination, 2009
• Conrad Robinson, on Kant and mathematics, 2009
• Wesley Cray, on modality, 2008
• Andrew Choi, on Kantian ethics and virtue ethics, 2007
• Thomas Evans, on content and vehicle externalism, 2007
• Cathy Muller, on fiction and pretense, 2007

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Committee Member

• Gabbrielle Johnson (Philosophy), “Reference Magnetism and Macro-Naturalism,” 2011
• Dan Giglio (Philosophy), “Quantum Individuality,” 2011
• Ben Flowers (Philosophy), “Rule A and Responsibility: A Defense of the Compatibility of Moral Responsibility and Causal Determinism,” 2009
• Matthew Grover (Psychology), “Using Attitude Formation Towards Novel Stimuli to Predict Changes in Depressive Symptoms,” 2009

Undergraduate Honors Thesis External Examiner

• Rachel Randall (Philosophy, Oberlin), “The Ethics of Creation of Persons,” 2007
• Michael Siniscalchi (Philosophy, Oberlin), “Can Representationalism Bridge Levine’s Gap?” 2007

Awards and Grants

• ISU University College Impact Award, 2025, 2017
• Summer Scholar, NEH Summer Institute, “Between Medieval and Modern: Philosophy from 1300-1700”, University of Colorado, Boulder, July 2015
• ISU Pretenure Faculty Initiative Grant, 2014-2015
• ISU New Faculty Initiative Grant, 2013-2014
• UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship, 2004-2005
• UCLA Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award, 2004
• Robert M. Yost Prize for Excellence in Teaching, UCLA Philosophy Department, 2000
• UCLA Department of Philosophy Fellowship, 1996-97

Refereeing

American Philosophical Quarterly, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Erkenntnis, History and Philosophy of Logic, Oxford University Press, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy of Science, Religious Studies, Res Philosophica, Southwest Philosophy Review, Southern Journal of Philosophy

Service

ISU College of Arts and Sciences

CAS Technology Advisory Committee, 2018-2020

ISU Philosophy Department

DFSC 2023-2026, 2018-22; Five Year Philosophy Chair Review Committee (2023); Assessment Committee (Chair), 2018-2022; Curriculum Committee: 2013-14, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2018-19, 2022-24; Faculty Advisor, Philosophical Society (Philosophy Club) 2022-23; Chair Search Committee, 2017-18; Social and Political Search Committee, 2017-18; Teaching Committee, 2017-18; Scholarship Committee: 2015-18; Colloquium Organizer: 2013-14, 2016-18; Curriculum Revision Committee: 2013-14; History of Philosophy Search Committee, 2012-13.

OSU Philosophy Department

Bingham Committee, 2008-09; Colloquium Committee, 2005-12; Curriculum Committee, 2005-06; Executive Committee, 2006-07; Fink Committee, 2005-06, 2011-12; Philosophy of Science Hiring Committee, 2008-09; Research Committee, 2007-08; Salary Committee, 2009-10; Undergraduate Committee, 2005-06, 2008-09;

Other Service

• Category Editor, Philpapers.org, Nonexistent Objects http://philpapers.org/browse/nonexistent-objects
• Co-organizer (with Ben Caplan and Boran Berčić), 2013 Ohio State-Maribor-Rijeka conference at the Inter University Centre in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Topic: Art and Reality.
• Session Chair: Central APA 2018, 2017, 2015, 2010, 2009; IPA 2014; INPC “Metaphysics on the Mountain” 2014, 2023; WCPA 2013; Pacific APA 2006