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Penelope Mackie
Associate Professor and Reader in Philosophy, Faculty of Arts
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Biography
Penelope Mackie was a lecturer at the University of Birmingham from 1994 to 2004, having previously held a fixed-term fellowship at New College, Oxford, from 1990 to 1994. Before that she was Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University (1987-90), a visiting lecturer at The University of Maryland (1986-87) and a lecturer at various Oxford colleges.
Expertise Summary
Her principal research interests are in a variety of topics in metaphysics and the philosophy of language, especially necessity and causation.
Research Summary
Penelope's research has been concerned chiefly with topics in metaphysics and the philosophy of language, especially necessity and causation. Her book on necessity and essentialism, How Things Might… read more
Recent Publications
MACKIE, P., 2010. Response to Frank Jackson, 'Possible Worlds and the Necessary A Posteriori'. In: HALE, B. and HOFFMANN, A., eds., Modality: Metaphysics, Logic, and Epistemology Oxford University Press. 267-273
MACKIE, P., 2008. Coincidence and Identity. In: LE POIDEVIN, R., ed., Being: Developments in Contemporary Metaphysics: Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement: 62 Cambridge University Press. 151-176
MACKIE, P., 2008. Review Essay: Material Objects and Metaphysics The Journal of Philosophy. 105(12), 756-771
MACKIE, P.J., 2007. Coincidence and modal predicates Analysis. 67(1), 21-31
Current Research
Penelope's research has been concerned chiefly with topics in metaphysics and the philosophy of language, especially necessity and causation. Her book on necessity and essentialism, How Things Might Have Been, was published in 2006 by Oxford University Press. She is interested in a wide range of philosophical topics, including aspects of the history of Philosophy, both ancient and modern (especially the British Empiricists), epistemology, identity over time (including personal identity), free will and determinism, reasons for action and weakness of will, and consequentialism in ethics. She is currently one of the editors in Metaphysics for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
MACKIE, P., 2010. Response to Frank Jackson, 'Possible Worlds and the Necessary A Posteriori'. In: HALE, B. and HOFFMANN, A., eds., Modality: Metaphysics, Logic, and Epistemology Oxford University Press. 267-273
MACKIE, P., 2008. Coincidence and Identity. In: LE POIDEVIN, R., ed., Being: Developments in Contemporary Metaphysics: Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement: 62 Cambridge University Press. 151-176
MACKIE, P., 2008. Review Essay: Material Objects and Metaphysics The Journal of Philosophy. 105(12), 756-771
MACKIE, P.J., 2007. Coincidence and modal predicates Analysis. 67(1), 21-31 MACKIE, P.J., 2006. How things might have been: individuals, kinds, and essential properties Oxford: Clarendon Press.
MACKIE, P., 2003. Lynne Rudder Baker, Persons and Bodies: a Constitution View Philosophical Quarterly. VOL 53(PART 210), 127-128
MACKIE, P.J., 2002. Forbes on origins and identities. In: BOTTANI, A., CARRARA, M. and GIARETTA, P., eds., Individuals, essence and identity: themes of analytic metaphysics Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 341-352
MACKIE, P., 1998. Identity, Time, and Necessity Aristotelian Society. Proceedings. VOL 98, 59-78 MACKIE, P.J., 1994. Sortal Concepts and Essential Properties Philosophical Quarterly. 44(176), 311-333 MACKIE, P.J., 1993. Ordinary Language and Metaphysical Commitment Analysis. 53(4), 243-251 MACKIE, P.J., 1993. Critical Notice of P. van Inwagen, Material Beings Philosophical Books. 34(2), 75-83
MACKIE, P.J., 1991. Causing, Enabling, and Counterfactual Dependence Philosophical Studies. 62, 325-330 MACKIE, P.J., 1987. Essence, Origin, and Bare Identity Mind. 96(382), 173-201