In January of 2006 I took up an Australian Research Council Post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Queensland. In July of this year, I moved to the University of Sydney. My research interests lie primarily in metaphysics, though I have been known to dabble in related areas. In particular I’m interested in mereology, space-time, composition and persistence. I mostly tend to think about chunks of matter and randomly arranged configurations of particulars. If pushed, I sometimes think about trees, beetles and couches, and if I’m feeling very resilient, occasionally even persons. The advantage of random configurations of particulars is that unlike persons, they can’t answer back.
That’s not to say I don’t care about ethics. I make a concerted effort not to eat people. Even people I don’t much care for. And while I’m not completely sure that either John Howard or oysters are people, (though I know which way my credences would go in each case), I wouldn’t eat either of them.
I’m a native Tasmanian (Hobartian) so I love mountainous rocky peaks and scraggly forests, green rolling hills and mossy valleys. None of which one sees a lot of in Sydney. But Sydney compensates with its plethora of Indian restaurants.
Kristie Miller’s Philosophy Homepage
I like crisp cold mornings, and in particular I like to run in the early morning at a time when if you see someone animatedly talking to thin air, it’s much more likely due to insanity than a mobile phone.
I have the dispositional property to attend theatre and cinema, but this property remains largely uninstantiated.
I’m mystified by women who buy ludicrously priced facial creams that promise to do things they do not do in quite far flung worlds, and I don’t understand why soaps come in different shapes and colours, or why you would inflict such a thing on someone under the label ‘gift’. Maybe the problem with these soaps is that all I’m seeing is the extension, not the primary intension of the gift. Perhaps in other worlds that intension picks out something else. That seems like cold comfort.
I also collect 20th century design. Everything from furniture, lamps and clocks to ceramics and cutlery.
Kristie Miller
The University of Sydney
Philosophy Homepage
Updated July 1 2008
