Penelope Mackie

Penelope Mackie was a British philosopher who specialised in metaphysics and philosophical logic, best known for her work on essence and modality. Mackie spent the majority of her career in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham, having also held appointments at the University of Birmingham, Virginia Commonwealth University, and New College, Oxford.

Life and career

Mackie was the daughter of Australian philosopher J. L. Mackie. She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford, matriculating in 1971, where she completed in her BPhil in Philosophy in 1978. Her DPhil was awarded in 1987 for the thesis, How Things Might Have Been: A Study in Essentialism.
Mackie worked in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham from 2004 until her death in 2022. She was the head of department from 2007 to 2010. Mackie was also a lecturer at the University of Birmingham ; a fixed-term fellow at New College, Oxford ; assistant professor of philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University ; a visiting lecturer at the University of Maryland ; and a lecturer at various Oxford colleges.

Selected works

Book

How Things Might Have Been

Reviewed by André Gallois in The Philosophical Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9213.2007.486_2.x
Reviewed by E.J. Lowe in Mind. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzm762
Reviewed by Sonia Roca-Royes in The Philosophical Review. https://doi.org/10.1215/00318108-2008-052

Articles

Sortals, Timelessness, and Transcendental Truth. Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 95
Can Metaphysical Modality Be Based on Essence? In: Metaphysics, Meaning, and Modality: Themes from Kit Fine
Property Dualism and Substance Dualism. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 111
Fatalism, Incompatibilism, and the Power to Do Otherwise. Noûs 37
Identity, Time, and Necessity. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 98
Sortal Concepts and Essential Properties. The Philosophical Quarterly 44
Causing, Delaying, and Hastening: Do Rains Cause Fires? Mind 101
Essence, Origin and Bare Identity. Mind '''96'''