Spencer M. Smith
EDUCATION
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN
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Ph.D., Philosophy (Candidate)…………………………………………… August 2021 – Present
Title: “The Natures of Essence and Grounding and the Explanatory Roles of Essence Facts”
Committee: Kris McDaniel (Chair), Daniel Nolan, Brian Cutter, Jeff Speaks
Summary: The past three decades have seen a resurgence of philosophical interest in a broadly Aristotelian conception of essence whereby a thing is essentially not merely what that thing is necessarily, but what it is definitionally. With this resurgence have come numerous attempts to put essence facts to work as explainers of various phenomena of great philosophical significance including, inter alia, facts about the grounding of the normative in the non-normative, normative bridge-laws, facts about the normative statuses of various particular acts and mental states, and, shockingly, the very existence of God. The primary aim of this dissertation is to sort out which explanatory roles essence facts are and are not fit to play, with major upshots being that (i) essence facts are not fit to ground or otherwise explain corresponding prejacent facts (and consequently not fit to ground or otherwise explain many of the foregoing phenomena), (ii) essence facts are fit to ground or otherwise explain corresponding broadly conditional facts, and (iii) essence facts are fit to do some meta-grounding work only if grounding is analyzed a certain way. Along the way, I motivate analyses of essence and grounding in terms of higher-order identity, and I apply results (i)-(iii) to recent work on the metaphysics of non-naturalist normativity.
Florida State University, Tallahassee FL
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Ph.D., Philosophy (Began, Then Transferred)……………………... August 2020 – May 2021
William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Fellowship Recipient
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M.A., Philosophy………………………………………………………………...... Received May 2020
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B.A., Philosophy & Psychology……………………………………………… Received May 2017
Magna Cum Laude
RESEARCH AREAS
Areas of Specialization
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Metaphysics
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Metaethics (or Metanormative Theory)
Areas of Competence
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Philosophy of Religion
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Ethics
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Philosophy of Language
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History of Analytic Philosophy (Carnap & Quine)
ACADEMIC WORKS
Peer-Reviewed Publications
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Smith, S. (2024). On the Metaphysics of Relation-Response Properties; or, Why You Shouldn’t Collapse Response-Dependent Properties Into their Grounds. Journal for Ethics and Social Philosophy. Published Draft.
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Reynolds, C., Smith, S., & Conway, P. (2020). Intrinsic Religiosity Attenuates the Negative Relationship Between Social Disconnectedness and Meaning in Life. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Preprint.
Select Works in Progress
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Smith, S. Against Essential Grounding; Against Finean Primitivism. (Abbreviated) Draft.
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Smith, S. Higher-Order Metaphysics and The Worldly Correlates of Truths. Draft.
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Smith, S. On the Depth of God’s Perfection. Draft.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
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Spring 2024 | Comments on Sam Kang’s “Beyond the I-Thou”
Notre Dame/Northwestern Graduate Epistemology Conference
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Fall 2019 | “Is Goodness Godlikeness?”
Central States Philosophical Association
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Fall 2018 | “A Problem for Mele’s Impartial Observer Test”
Florida Philosophical Association
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor of Record
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The Natures of Ethics & Morality: An Introductory Survey of Major Topics in Metaethics
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Introduction to Philosophy
T.A. Positions
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Modern Philosophy
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Intro to Philosophy of Language
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Intro to Political Philosophy – (Lecture Experience)
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American Political Thought
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Reasoning & Critical Thinking
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Ethical Issues & Life Choices – (Lecture Experience)
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Intro to Philosophy (x4)
RELEVANT VOLUNTEER WORK
Conference Volunteer Work
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Spring 2026 | Chair for American Philosophical Association – Central Division Meeting (Chicago)
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Fall 2025 | Chair for 22nd Annual Madison Metaethics Workshop
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Spring 2022 | Chair for American Philosophical Association – Central Division Meeting (Chicago)
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Spring 2021 | Reviewer for Society for Christian Philosophers Eastern Region Meeting at Florida State University
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Spring 2019 | Reviewer for Florida State University’s Annual Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Agency Conference
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Fall 2017 | Co-Organizer for Florida State University’s Annual Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Agency Conference (w/ Samantha Berthelette)
Departmental Volunteer Work
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Fall 2023 – Present | Graduate Student Mentor, Notre Dame
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Summer 2025 | Organizer, Metaethics Reading Group, Notre Dame
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Spring 2023 | Co-Organizer, Metaphysics Reading Group, Notre Dame (w/ Gonzalo Gamarra Jordan)
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Fall 2022 & Spring 2023 | Co-Organizer, Grad Student Colloquia Series, Notre Dame (w/ Kevin Jia)
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Fall 2017-2019 | Organizer, Philosophy of Religion Discussion Group, Florida State
(LETTER-GRADED) GRADUATE COURSEWORK
Metaphysics & Logic
Logicism & Analytic Philosophy (Blanchette), Metaphysics of Persons (McDaniel), Metaphysics of Science (Nolan), David Lewis’s Letters (Bernstein), Proseminar (McDaniel), Intermediate Logic (Blanchette), Core Course in Metaphysics and Epistemology (Kearns), Odd Arguments and Strange Conclusions (Kearns), DIS Quantificational Semantics (Kearns), DIS Meta-Metaphysics (Kearns), DIS Grounding in Metaethics (Kearns), Free Will (Mele), Modern Logic (Rawling)
Normative Philosophy & Action Theory
Love, Beauty, & Objectification (Rea), Moral Rationalism (Audi), Core Course in Ethics (Lebar), Practical Reasons (McNaughton & Rawling), Normativity in the Natural World (Justus & Bishop), Normativity (Bukoski), DIS Epistemology for Normative Non-Naturalists (Bukoski), The Normativity of Meaning (Hinchman), Moral Responsibility (Clarke), Moral Psychology (Herdova), Intentions & Intentional Action (Mele), Self-Deception (Mele), Describing Human Action (Schwenkler), Ideal Theory (May)
History
Medieval Theories of Universals (Cross), Leibniz (Newlands), History and Philosophy of Science (Howard), Carnap & Quine (Justus), Aristotle’s Metaphysics (Stein), DIS Empiricism & Empirical Content (Rawling), Religion, Science, and Conflict (Ruse & Kelsay)
REFERENCES
Kris McDaniel
Dissertation Advisor
University of Notre Dame
Daniel Nolan
Dissertation Committee
UC-Santa Cruz
Jeff Speaks
Dissertation Committee
University of Notre Dame
Brian Cutter
Dissertation Committee
University of Notre Dame
Randolph Clarke
Former Professor
Florida State University
Stephen Kearns
Former Professor
Florida State University
James Justus
Former Professor
Florida State University
Paul Conway
Former Professor & Co-Author
University of South Hampton