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Philosophy

Jessica Wilson

portrait of Jessica Wilson
Professor
Email
jessica.m.wilson@utoronto.ca
Telephone number
416-287-7174
Building MW 386
Status
on sabbatical
Website
Personal Website

Biography

Prof. Wilson started at UTSC as an Assistant Professor in 2005. Prior to that she was William Wilhartz Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan from 2001. She did her PhD work at Cornell University from 1995–2001 after a year in the PhD program at Colorado-Boulder. She received a BA in mathematics from California-San Diego in 1987. Along with Dr. Jonathan Schaffer, Dr. Wilson was awarded the the 2014 Lebowitz Prize for Philosophical Achievement and Contribution. Wilson is one of two UTSC Research Excellence Faculty Scholars for 2022, and was recently awarded the 2024 Tang Chun-I Visiting Professorship for a one-month residence at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Education

  • PhD, Philosophy, Cornell University (2001)
  • BA, Mathematics, University of California, San Diego (1987)

Teaching Interests

Teaching in 2023-24

PHLB99: Philosophical Writing and Methodology
PHLC14: Topics in Non-Western Philosophy
PHLD79: Advanced Seminar in Metaphysics

Research Interests

Jessica Wilson has research interests in metaphysics, metametaphysics, and epistemology. Her work in metaphysics covers interlevel metaphysics (especially pertaining to emergence in science and mind, as in Metaphysical Emergence, OUP 2021), metaphysical indeterminacy (especially pertaining to quantum indeterminacy), metaphysical modality (concerning what is it for some goings-on to be metaphysically necessary or possible), and certain notions which are foundational in metaphysical theorizing (as in, e.g., Fundamentality and Metaphysical Dependence, OUP forthcoming). In metametaphysics, Wilson is concerned with motivations (or lack thereof) for certain influential metaphysical or metametaphysical posits or presuppositions (e.g., 'Grounding'). Wilson's work in epistemology primarily focuses on the justificatory status and applications of abduction (inference to the best explanation).

Publications

Books

Articles