David DeVidi

Professor (currently Associate Vice President, Academic)

Areas of interest

Logic, philosophy of mathematics, metaphysics, philosophy of disability, and philosophy of language

Current Research

My recent research projects have primarily been in two areas. First, I have continued work on topics at the intersection of metaphysics, logic, and philosophy of mathematics: realism and anti-realism; pluralisms, mathematical and logical; and the relationships between putatively logical principles and ontology that are revealed when one begins from a non-classical logical framework.

Secondly, I have been involved in collaborative research projects with community organizations that provide supports to adults with developmental disabilities to help them live satisfying, self-directed lives in their communities. Here I am especially interested in issues of autonomy, self-direction, supported decision making, and the like.

My recent PhD supervisions have included dissertations in both these areas. In the past, my students' topics have included (among others) the semantics of counterfactuals with impossible antecedents, objects and objectivity, paraconsistency and political philosophy, and choice principles in non-classical logics. At the Master's level, I have supervised a broader range of topics in the same general areas.

Selected publications

2017: "No Mere Difference," in Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review 56, pages 357-379, with Catherine Klausen.
2017: "Buying Logical Principles with Ontological Coin: The Metaphysical Lessons of Adding Epsilon to Intuitionistic Logic," IfCoLoG Journal of Logics and Their Applications 4, pages 287-312, with Corey Mulvihill.
2014: “Advocacy, Autism and Autonomy,” in Autism and Philosophy, edited by Jami Anderson and Simon Cushing, eds., Rowman and Littlefield.

Selected grants, fellowships, awards

2015- 2016: University of Waterloo Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision
2012: first recipient of the SWEC Equity and Inclusivity Award from the Status of Women and Equity Committee (SWEC)
2009-2016: Principal Investigator, SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) Standard Research Grant, “Pluralisms, Logical and Mathematical.”

Selected supervisions

Non-classical (constructive/intuitionistic, intermediate, relevant, modal) logics, especially in relation to metaphysics
Philosophy of logic and of mathematics (foundations, vagueness, paradoxes, pluralism)
Philosophy of disability

*While Professor DeVidi is serving as AVPA, he remains available for some graduate supervision.