Prof Howat

Contact Information

ahowat@fullerton.edu
Voice: 657-278-2157
Fax:657-278-6132
Dept: 657-278-3611

Contact Information

CSUF

800 N State College Blvd

Fullerton, CA

92831

Department Address

Humanities Building, Room 311D

Andrew Howat, Ph. D

Professor of Philosophy

Biography

I grew up in Scotland and studied philosophy as an undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh from 1997-2001 with terrific Professors like Rae Langton, Richard Holton, Alexander Bird, and Timothy Williamson. I did my PhD in Sheffield from 2002-2007 with Chris Hookway and Rob Hopkins (now at NYU).

My dissertation defended the idea that truth is a response-dependent concept and that this is a novel way to frame and defend philosophical pragmatism and its critique of metaphysical realism.

I arrived at CSUF in 2011 as an Assistant Professor. I was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017, and Full Professor in 2022.

I regularly teach metaphysics, philosophy of language, upper- and lower-division logic classes, and American Philosophy / pragmatism (particularly that of C.S. Peirce). 

Degrees

2008, Ph.D, University of Sheffield

2001, M.A. (Hons), University of Edinburgh

Research Areas

Metaphysics; Language; Epistemology; American Pragmatism (esp. C.S. Peirce)

Courses Regularly Taught

PHIL 420 (Metaphysics), PHIL 435 (Philosophy of Language), PHIL368 (Symbolic Logic), PHIL 106 (Introduction to Logic), PHIL 100 (Introduction to Philosophy). 

Publications

Howat, A; Bruschke, J.; Ocampo, M, (2022) "Critical thinking instruction for the post-truth era", Argumentation and Advocacy, DOI: 10.1080/10511431.2022.2125698

Howat, A. (forthcoming), 'Peirce on Truth', The Oxford Handbook of C. S. Peirce, De Waal, C. (Ed.)

Howat, A. (forthcoming), 'Pragmatism and Essence', Routledge Handbook of Essence, Koslicki,  K & Raven, M. (Eds.)

Howat, A. (in press), 'Pragmatism and Philosophical Method', Routledge Handbook of Pragmatism, Aikin, S. & Talisse, R. (Eds.).

Howat, A. (2021) 'Justifying Belief in Legitimate Political Ideals (Commentary on Joshua Forstenzer’s Deweyan Experimentalism…)Opens in new window ', Aikin, S. (Ed.), Online Symposium for Syndicate Network, Posted 7/26/21

Howat, A. (2021) 'Pragmatism and CorrespondenceOpens in new window ', Philosophia, 49 (2):685-704.

Howat, A. (2019), Commentary on Robert Lane’s ‘Peirce on Realism and Idealism’Opens in new window , Aikin, S. (Ed.), Online Symposium for Syndicate Network, Posted 7/4/19

Howat, A. (2018) 'Misak's Peirce and Pragmatism's Metaphysical CommitmentsOpens in new window .' Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 54 (3): 378-394.

Howat, A. W. (2018) 'Constituting Assertion: A Pragmatist Critique of Horwich's "Truth"'Synthese, Special Issue, 195 (3), 935-954 (Wright, C. and Ulatowski, J. (Eds)). 

Howat, A. W. (2015) 'Hookway's Peirce on Assertion & Truth', Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 51, no. 4 (2015): 419-43.

Howat, A. (2014) 'Peirce on Grounding the Laws of LogicOpens in new window ' in Transactions of the Charles Sanders Peirce Society, Vol. 50, No. 4, 480-500. 

Howat, A.W. (2014) 'Prospects for Peircean TruthOpens in new window ' in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 44, Issue 3-4. 

Howat, A.W. (2013) ‘Regulative Assumptions, Hinge Propositions and the Peircean Conception of Truth’ in Erkenntnis, 78 (2): 451-468

Howat, A.W. (2011). 'Shallow Versus Deep Response-DependenceOpens in new window '. Philosophical Studies: Volume 156, Issue 2 (2011), Page 155-172.

Scholarly Work

My primary research goal is to generate a more constructive dialogue between mainstream M&E and the pragmatist tradition (broadly construed). My primary case study is theories of truth. My current research project focuses on the idea that pragmatism's conception of truth and its relationship to metaphysics, particularly as envisioned by its founder C.S. Peirce, is widely misunderstood. In particular, I argue that pragmatism's conception of truth is a way of reconstructing, rather than rejecting, concepts such as realism, mind-independence, and objectivity. In recent years I have been especially influenced by the work of several remarkable pragmatism scholars, particularly Cheryl Misak, Robert Lane, Diana Heney, Ken Boyd, Cathy Legg, Richard Kenneth Atkins, and Shannon Dea, among others.

Office Hours

MW 10:00-11:00 a.m. (in person)

Online Office Hours

Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Please email or DM me on Discord to join. 

Current Course Schedule

Spring 2023

Symbolic Logic (PHIL 368-01)

M/W 11:30 a.m.

Intro to Logic (PHIL 106-02)

M/W 1:00 p.m.

Next Semester Course Schedule

Fall 2023

American Philosophy (PHIL 379)

M/W 11:30 a.m.

Argument & Writing (PHIL 315)

M/W 1:00 p.m.

Intro to Logic (PHIL 106-01)

M/W 10:00 a.m.