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MEGAN STOT TS
EMAIL: MEGAN.STOTTS@EMAIL.UCR.EDU
DEPT. OF PHILOSOPHY • HMNSS, ROOM 1604 • 900 UNIVERSITY AVE• RIVERSIDE, CA 92521
WWW.MEGANSTOTTS.COM
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION: Philosophy of Language, Social Ontology
AREAS OF COMPETENCE: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind, Logic, Ethics, Early
Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Philosophy, University of California, Riverside, in progress
• Committee: John Perry (co-chair; Stanford University)
Howard Wettstein (co-chair; University of California, Riverside)
Peter Graham (University of California, Riverside)
Michael Nelson (University of California, Riverside)
• Dissertation: Conventions and Linguistic Meaning
Abstract: In Conventions and Linguistic Meaning, I develop a new account of expression meaning, which is the contextindependent meaning of a word or sentence in a language. I argue that a type of sound (or gesture, or marking) counts
as a meaningful expression in virtue of its being a conventional way of getting people to involve objects or relations in
their activity. In other words, sounds become meaningful expressions when they become widespread, copied ways of
changing the world by influencing others. My account stands out from others in the literature by defining expression
meaning in terms of observable behavior rather than people’s intentions when they use an expression. The dissertation has
two main parts. In Part 1, I defend an account of conventions that eschews David Lewis’s focus on complex mental
states and refines Ruth Garrett Millikan’s causal approach. I argue that conventions, including linguistic ones, are types
of behavior that (1) are copied widely within a group and (2) admit of equally good, equally accessible alternatives.
Then, in Part Two, I use this account of conventions to build my account of expression meaning, applying it to
expressions from proper names to indexicals, verbs, and quantifiers.
M.A., Philosophy, University of California, Riverside, 2011
• Thesis: Donnellan, Kripke, and the Two Uses of Proper Names
B.A., Philosophy, Denison University, 2009
• Summa cum laude
PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS (all available upon request)
“Epistemic Evaluations: Consequences, Costs and Benefits,” with Peter Graham, Zachary Bachman, and
Meredith McFadden, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 4, no. 4 (2015): 7-13.
“The Behavioral Foundations of Expression Meaning” (in progress)
“Unconscious Conventions and Arbitrariness” (sending out for review)
“Understanding the Intentions Behind the Referential/Attributive Distinction” (sending out for review)
APA PRESENTATIONS
“What Makes Sounds into Meaningful Words?”
Annual Meeting of the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association, February 2015
“Conventions, Precedents, and Beliefs: A Lesson from Lewis and Millikan”
Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, March 2013
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OTHER RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
“The Foundations of Expression Meaning”
SoCal Philosophy Conference, October 2014
“Linguistic Meaning and Etiological Functions”
Midsouth Philosophy Conference, February 2014
“Alternatives, Recalcitrance, and Linguistic Conventions”
65th Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, October 2013
“Metasemantics without Speaker Meaning”
The New York Philosophy of Language Workshop, September 2013
“Conventions, Precedents, and Beliefs: A Lesson from Lewis and Millikan”
PhilMiLCog: University of Western Ontario’s Annual Graduate Conference in Philosophy of Mind,
Language, and Cognitive Science, May 2013
“Donnellan and the Two Uses of Proper Names”
Berkeley-Stanford-Davis Graduate Philosophy Conference, April 2011
COMMENTARY
Comments on Geoff Georgi’s “Indexical Logic and Linguistic Meaning, or Why the Humpty-Dumpty
Problem Won’t Go Away”
Midsouth Philosophy Conference, February 2014
SESSIONS CHAIRED
Christian Weede, “Grounds for Divorce from Presentism”
SoCal Philosophy Conference, October 2014
Colloquium: Propositions and Concepts, Justin Dallmann’s “Existence and the Cognitive Event Type Theory
of Propositions”
Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, April 2014
Session on Normativity
65th Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, October 2013
ACADEMIC HONORS
The Harrah Prize in Applied Philosophy, University of California, Riverside, 2014
Grad Slam Competition Finalist, University of California, Riverside, Spring 2014
Graduate Research Mentorship Program Fellowship, University of California, Riverside, Spring 2014
Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award, University of California, Riverside, 2009–2010
Phi Beta Kappa, Denison University, May 2009
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ACADEMIC SERVICE
Referee, Journal of the American Philosophical Association, Fall 2014–present
Philosophy Department Graduate Student Representative, University of California, Riverside, Fall 2013–Spring
2015
• Attend department meetings and serve as a liaison between the graduate students and the philosophy faculty
Assistant Editor of Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Summer 2012–Summer 2013
• Assisted with editorial work and refereed the occasional submitted paper
• Supervisor: Howard Wettstein, Editor, Midwest Studies in Philosophy
Vice President of Philosophy Graduate Student Association, University of California, Riverside, Fall 2011–Spring
2014
TEACHING TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION
Philosophy Department Teaching Workshop, University of California, Riverside, 2013–2014
University Teaching Certificate Program, University of California, Riverside, completed Spring 2013
TEACHING EXPERIENCE (PRIMARY INSTRUCTOR)
Upcoming: The Metaphysics of Social Reality, University of California, Riverside, Summer 2015
Language, Mind, and Reality, University of California, Riverside, Summer 2014
Introduction to Logic, University of California, Riverside, Summer 2013
Philosophy of Language (upper division), University of California, Riverside, Summer 2012
TEACHING ASSISTANT EXPERIENCE
Advanced University-Level Pedagogy, Winter 2015 (Margaret Gover)
Ethics and the Meaning of Life, Winter 2014 (Andrews Reath)
Biomedical Ethics, Fall 2013 (Coleen Macnamara)
Introduction to Logic, Spring 2013 (William Bracken) and Spring 2011 (Erich Reck)
Critical Thinking, Winter 2013 (Joshua Hollowell) and Spring 2012 (Larry Wright)
Introduction to Law and Society, Fall 2012 (Carl Cranor)
Introduction to Philosophy, Winter 2012 (Howard Wettstein)
Language, Mind, and Reality, Fall 2011 and Fall 2010 (Peter Graham)
Contemporary Moral Issues, Winter 2011(Antonio Capuano) and Summer 2011 (Mark Johnson)
Introduction to the History of Ethics, Summer 2010 (Andrews Reath)
PEDAGOGY PRESENTATIONS
Syllabus Workshop
Graduate Division, University of California, Riverside, Winter 2015
“Knowledge Organization and Learning”
Philosophy Department Teaching Workshop, University of California, Riverside, Spring 2014 and Winter 2013
OTHER RELEVANT EMPLOYMENT
University Teaching Certificate Program Coordinator, University of California, Riverside, 2014–2015
• Organize and coordinate a competitive certification program, including an advanced pedagogy seminar, for teaching
assistants who show particular promise as instructors
Epistemology Research Assistant, Peter Graham, University of California, Riverside, 2014–2015
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GRADUATE COURSEWORK (bold typeface denotes courses taken for a letter grade)
2013
2010
Frege (Erich Reck)
Kant’s Moral Theory (Andrews Reath)
Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, Part II
Singular Thought (David Kaplan)
(Howard Wettstein and Larry Wright)
Pragmatics (Robin Jeshion and John Perry)
Modal Logic, Actuality, and Existence (Michael
Proseminar:
Free
Will
and
Moral
Nelson)
Responsibility (John Martin Fischer)
Praise and Blame (Coleen Macnamara)
2012
Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals (Maudemarie
Philosophy of Religion (Howard Wettstein)
Clark)
Caring and Human Agency (Agnieszka Jaworska)
Aristotle’s Ethics (David Glidden)
The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell (John Perry)
Proseminar: Classics in Analytic Philosophy
Advanced Logic (Erich Reck)
(Robin Jeshion)
Epistemology (Peter Graham)
Reference: A Seminar (John Perry and Howard
2011
Wettstein)
Moral Constructivism (Michael Nelson)
2009
Frege’s Notion of Sense (Erich Reck)
Wittgenstein’s
On
Certainty
(Howard
Explanation and Purpose (Larry Wright)
Wettstein and Larry Wright)
Intermediate Logic (Erich Reck)
J. David Velleman (Michael Nelson)
Personal Identity and the Self (John Perry)
Proseminar: Epistemology (Peter Graham)
Deontic Pluralism (Coleen Macnamara)
RESEARCH LANGUAGE
German
REFERENCES
John Perry (co-chair)
Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy,
Emeritus
Stanford University
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus
University of California, Riverside
john@csli.stanford.edu
Michael Nelson
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of California, Riverside
michael.nelson@ucr.edu
Andrews Reath (teaching reference)
Professor of Philosophy
University of California, Riverside
andrews.reath@ucr.edu
Howard Wettstein (co-chair)
Professor of Philosophy
University of California, Riverside
howard.wettstein@ucr.edu
Peter J. Graham
Professor of Philosophy
University of California, Riverside
peter.graham@ucr.edu
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