Evan Welchance
Areas of Specialization: Metaphysics, philosophy of perception
Employment
Visiting Lecturer of Philosophy, University of Richmond
- August 2025 –
Education
PhD in Philosophy, University of Virginia: August 2019 – Present
- Supervisor: Trenton Merricks
- Thesis title: How Perception Bears on the Metaphysics of Ordinary Objects
Visiting Graduate Student, Rutgers University: August 2022 – May 2023
MA in Philosophy, Brandeis University:December 2018
BA in Philosophy, BS in Mathematics, Middle Tennessee State University: May 2017
Publications
“Against Philosophical Proofs Against Common Sense.” Analysis (2021) [co-authored with Louis Doulas]
Under review
- Metaphysical infinitism and theoretical virtue (R&R)
- The epistemology of ontology
- Perception and extraordinary objects
Works in Progress
- Reference variance
- How to be a perceptualist
- Varieties of eliminativism
- The principle of epistemic charity
- What is perceptualism?
Presentations
Consciousness and composition
- Eastern APA (Symposium), January 2026
Ontological empiricism
- Tennessee Philosophical Association, November 2025.
Ontological aliens and epistemic charity
- Central APA (Colloquium), February 2025.
The problem of referential adicity for easy ontology
- Eastern APA (Symposium), January 2025.
Perception and extraordinary objects
- Morven Retreat for the University of Virginia’s Department of Philosophy, September 2024.
Extraordinary objects
- UVA Undergraduate Philosophy Club, October 2023 (Invited)
Perceptually justifying ordinary object beliefs
- Tennessee Philosophical Association, October 2023
- Eastern APA (Symposium), January 2024.
Justification, bias, and epistemic blame
- Virginia Philosophical Association, October 2023.
- Mind, Value, and Moral Psychology: Rice and University of Houston Graduate Conference, November 2023
Reference variance
- Rutgers Grad Talk Series, March 2023.
Metaphysical infinitism and theoretical virtue
- Tennessee Philosophical Association, October 2022.
- Central APA (Colloquium), February 2023.
- Long Island Philosophical Society, April 2023.
Phenomenology-based quantifier variance
- Second Austrian Summer School in Phenomenology, University of Graz, September 2022.
Perceiving persistence conditions
- Georgia Philosophical Society, June 2022.
- Rutgers Metaphysics Reading Group, November 2022.
- Oxford Philosophy Graduate Conference, November 2022.
- Eastern APA (Colloquium), January 2023.
Acquaintability and ordinary ontology
- Columbia-NYU Graduate Conference in Philosophy, April 2022.
Attention and cognitive phenomenology
- Morven Retreat for the University of Virginia’s Department of Philosophy, September 2021.
- Tennessee Philosophical Association, November 2021.
Vagueness is unitary
- Graduate Philosophy Conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, April 2021.
Ordinary objects are a priori-ty
- Mark L. Shapiro Graduate Philosophy Conference, Brown University, March 2021.
Against Philosophical Proofs Against Common Sense
- Florida Philosophical Association, February 2021. (With Louis Doulas.)
The functional conception of laws
- Mathematical and Numerical Inspirations in Philosophy, Stanford University, April 2020.
- Wisconsin Philosophical Association, August 2020.
- South Carolina Society for Philosophy, April 2021.
Commentaries
Scott Aikin’s “Skepticism, Conservatism, and Equilibrism’s Problem of Meta-philosophical Disappointment”
- Tennessee Philosophical Association, October 2023
Scott Aikin’s “Fallacy Accusation and Meta-Argument”
- Tennessee Philosophical Association, October 2022
Teaching
(As sole instructor)
- Common Sense and Skepticism in Philosophy: Summer 2025
- Philosophy of Language: Spring 2024
- Ethics in the Digital Age: Summer 2023, Summer 2024
- Environmental Ethics: Summer 2021
(As teaching assistant)
- Introduction to Symbolic Logic: Fall 2023
- History of Philosophy,Modern: Spring 2022
- Philosophy of Health and Healthcare: Fall 2021, Fall 2024
- Meaning of Life: Spring 2021
- The Past, Present, and Future of Humankind: Spring 2021
- Human Nature: Fall 2020
Professional Development
Graduate Instructor Seminar on the Teaching of Writing: University of Virginia
- August 2020 (as student)
- January 2023 (as graduate assistant)
Service
- Graduate Student Representative for UVA’s Philosophy Department, AY 2021-22
- Index writer for Ross Cameron’s Chains of Being (2022)
- Research Assistant for Elizabeth Barnes, AY 2023-24, AY 2024-25
- Reviewer for American Philosophical Quarterly
Honors and Awards
- UVA All-University Graduate Teaching Award, AY 2024-25
- South Carolina Society for Philosophy Graduate Student Essay Prize (“The functional conception of laws.”)
