Dr Nathan Wildman

Bio

I am an Assistant Professor in Philosophy, and a member of TiLPS. I have previously taught at Glasgow and Hamburg, and studied at Cambridge and UC-Santa Cruz (Go Banana Slugs!). 

My primary research concerns issues in metaphysics, philosophy of language, logic, and aesthetics. I am especially interested in the foundations of modality, the nature of fiction, the logic of fictional truth, and the aesthetics of interactive fictions (e.g. video games & AR/VR).

I am also a former member of the Phlox Research Group, the SNF-funded project Grounding – Metaphysics, Science, and Logic, and the Emmy Noether project Ontology after Quine: Fictionalism and Fundamentality.

Expertise

I have expertise in several areas of theoretical philosophy, with growing interests in topics concerning the philosophy of technology.

I am currently working on projects concerning:

• Ethical education via Virtual Reality
• Characterizing interactivity and immersiveness
• Eludicating the foundations of (alethic) modality

Courses

• Philosophy of language
• Logic
• Introduction to Logic

Top publications

1. Interactivity, fictionality, and incompleteness

   Wildman, N., & Woodward, R. (2018). Interactivity, fictionality, and incompleteness. In G. Tavinor, & J. Robson (Eds.), The Aesthetics of Video Games Routledge. https://nwwildman.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/interactivity-chapter-revision.pdf

2. Against the reduction of modality to essence

   Wildman, N. (2018). Against the reduction of modality to essence. Synthese.

3. The possibility of empty fictions

   Wildman, N. (2019). The possibility of empty fictions. The journal of aesthetics and art criticism, 77(1), 35-42.

4. Modality, Sparsity, and Essence

   Wildman, N. (2013). Modality, Sparsity, and Essence. The Philosophical Quarterly, 63(253).

5. Fiction Unlimited

   Wildman, N., & Folde, C. (2017). Fiction Unlimited. The journal of aesthetics and art criticism, 75(1), 73-80.