Amie Thomasson is a contemporary American analytic philosopher and professor at Dartmouth College, specializing in metaphysics, ontology, and philosophy of art. She is best known for developing 'easy ontology,' a deflationary approach arguing that existence questions about ordinary objects and other entities can be resolved through conceptual analysis combined with trivial empirical inquiry. Her work defends the reality of artifacts, fictional entities, and social objects against eliminativist and skeptical positions.
Developed 'easy ontology,' arguing that ontological disputes are often merely verbal and resolvable without heavy metaphysical theorizing
Authored Ordinary Objects (2007), defending the existence of everyday artifacts against eliminativist and nihilist arguments
Authored Fiction and Metaphysics (1999), developing an account of fictional characters as abstract artifacts
Advanced a neo-Carnapian approach to metaontology, influencing debates on quantifier variance and ontological deflationism
Contributed to philosophy of art through work on the ontology of artworks and social objects