L.A. Paul

Laurie Ann (L.A.) Paul is a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, having previously taught at Yale University and the University of Arizona. She is best known for her research on the counterfactual analysis of causation and the concept of "transformative experience."

Paul graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1990 with a B.A. in chemistry. Before going to graduate school, Paul corresponded with a number of philosophers about their work, including Nancy Cartwright and Lynne Rudder Baker. In 1999, Paul graduated from Princeton University with a Ph.D in philosophy, where she wrote a dissertation titled Essays on Causation under the supervision of David Lewis.

Paul taught at Yale University from 1999 to 2001, and at the University of Arizona from 2001 until 2008, before moving to North Carolina. She has also held appointments at the Australian National University and at the University of St. Andrews.

She is married to the sociologist and blogger Kieran Healy.

Paul's principal research interests are in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. Her work focuses on causation, mereology, the philosophy of time, and related topics in phenomenology, the philosophy of science, and philosophy of language. Her work in ontology and mereology develops a distinctive view of objects as fusions of property instances. Her article "What You Can't Expect When You're Expecting" develops the notion of transformative experience and explores its consequences for the possibility of rational decision-making.

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