Gabriel Rabin

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Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar

Media profile

“Philosophers study modality – what is possible and impossible. The primary method for learning about modality involves inferring from conceivability to possibility. However the reliability of this method has recently come into question.”

Gabriel Rabin, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has won a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission to undertake research at the Australian National University in 2008/09. Gabriel’s research will investigate the status of the conceivability – possibility link, particularly through the lens of two-dimensional semantics, and explore repercussions for the study of consciousness.

Gabriel, a current PhD student in Philosophy at UCLA and graduate of Columbia College of Columbia University, will undertake the research project The Epistemology of Modality. The research will cover the prospects for the two-dimensional route from conceivability to possibility and the ramifications of the acceptance of modal scepticism.

“One of the main methods for learning about modality involves conceiving or imagining counterfactual situations. For example, one can imagine flying pigs. Therefore flying pigs are possible. However one cannot imagine that 2+2=5. Therefore, it is not possible to that imagine 2+2=5. Philosophers frequently appeal to this type of reasoning. These types of inferences are called conceivability-possibility inferences.”

In general, the conceivability of a situation is a good indicator of its possibility. But the inference from conceivability to possibility is not foolproof, explains Gabriel.

“My project has two main parts – first I will examine the prospect that two-dimensional semantics has for overcoming the challenge of modal scepticism. I will do this by investigating the links between the types of possibilities that the two-dimensional analysis provides. The second part of my project is the examination of the prospects of modal scepticism itself.”

Gabriel, based at the Australian National University in Canberra, will work with a range of experts at its affiliated Centre for Consciousness, working with Professors David Chalmers, Daniel Stoljar, and Jonathan Schaffer.

“Professor Chalmers is one of the leading thinkers in the epistemology of modality, a founder of two semantics, and the Director of the Centre for Consciousness. The Centre is the place to study epistemology of modality and especially its relation to consciousness.”

Gabriel is the recipient of a number of awards for his academic achievements, including the Chancellor’s Prize (2006), Puryear Fellowship (2004) and the University Fellowship (2004).