Rögnvaldur Ingthorsson
R. D. Ingthorsson is originally from Iceland and is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His research specialisation is in metaphysics and he is the author of the celebrated McTaggart's Paradox, co-editor of Mental Causation and Ontology. His most recent book is called A Powerful Particulars View of Causation.
Subjects: Philosophy
Biography
I am an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Helsinki University. I am originally from Iceland but educated in Sweden and have taught and conducted research in the UK, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. My area of specialisation is Metaphysics. More specifically I address core issues in the Metaphysics of Time, Causation, Persistence, Powers, Process, and Truth. The views I defend are: (i) presentism—only the present exists, the future not yet and the past no longer, (ii)endurantism—things endure rather than perdure, (iii) powerful particulars view of causation—causation is interaction between powerful particulars, (iv) causal theory of constitution and persistence—compounds are constituted by causal interactions between component parts and persistence is a measure of how long they are so constituted, (v) compound particulars are both substances and processes, (vi) identity theory of properties—properties are both qualities and powers, and (vii) correspondence theory of truth. I am also interested in questions having to do with the application of metaphysics to our understanding of science (humanities and social science included). I live with my wife in Oslo, and our three grown children are off to university and/or making music.
Education
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PhD
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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Metaphysics of time, persistence, causation, properties, powers, constitution, process, and truth.
Personal Interests
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I used to be quite serious about cross-country skiing and participated in the 1992 & 1994 winter olympic games as a representative for Iceland. Today I enjoy the great outdoors, playing guitar and cooking.
Websites
Books
Articles
The Regress of Pure Powers Revisited
Published: Feb 23, 2021 by The European Journal of Philosophy
Authors: Rögnvaldur Ingthorsson
Subjects:
Philosophy
The paper aims to elucidate in better detail than before the dispute about whether or not dispositional monism—the view that all basic properties are nothing but powers—entails a vicious infinite regress.
Ontological and methodological virtues of unification
Published: Oct 01, 2020 by Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Authors: Rögnvaldur Ingthorsson
Subjects:
Philosophy
The paper discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the advantages of the unification of metaphysics and physics .
There is No Truth-Theory Like the Correspondence Theory
Published: Feb 28, 2019 by Discusiones Filosóficas
Authors: R. D. Ingthorsson
Subjects:
Philosophy
I challenge the assumption that the pragmatist-, coherence-, identity- and deflationary theories of truth are essentially incompatible and rival views to the correspondence theory, without endorsing pluralism.
Properties: Qualities, Powers, or Both?
Published: Apr 24, 2013 by Dialectica
Authors: Rögnvaldur Ingthorsson
Subjects:
Philosophy
The paper argues that, contrary to the so-called categorical/dispositional distinction, the intrinsic properties of things are both qualities and powers.
Causal Production as Interaction
Published: Feb 23, 2002 by Metaphysica
Authors: Rögnvaldur Ingthorsson
Subjects:
Philosophy
The paper contains a novel realist account of causal production and the necessary connection between cause and effect.
Videos
Published: Apr 04, 2020
A recording of a talk held at the international workshop "Unification in Physics and Philosophy", held in Helsinki on in May 2019.
Published: Nov 12, 2018
The video offers an illustrated explanation of what is so puzzling about the nature of time—in terms accessible to the general public—and of the main ideas about how that puzzle should be solved