Roope Ryymin

I work mostly on issues in the intersection of metaphysics and philosophy of perception. I am interested in what perceptual experiences are and what the things that we perceive are. I am particularly interested in naïve realist theories of perception and the kinds of metaphysical and ontological commitments they (should) carry. 

In my thesis I look at naïve realist theories of perception and try to figure out what a more positive naïve realist theory should look like by investigating its ontological commitments from a neo-Quinean perspective. I argue that this approach can help the naïve realist make sense of perceptual experiences of absences like hearing silence and seeing the absence of a missing friend in a cafe by giving a basis for a realist metaphysics of absences. 

Aside from things related to what perceptual experiences are and what the things that we perceive are, I’m particularly interested in modality, mereology, and (meta-)ontology. I also have research interests in related issues in philosophy of art (esp. the metaphysics of sound recordings and photography) and phenomenology (esp. the works of Maurice Merleau-Ponty).