I am an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at California Polytechnic State University. Located in San Luis Obispo on California's beautiful Central Coast, Cal Poly has been rated the best public master's university in the west by U.S. News & World Report for 16 consecutive years (1992-2008). At Cal Poly I teach courses in Epistemology, Metaphysics, Aesthetics, Philosophical Classics, and Philosophy of Religion. My main research area is Epistemology, but I also work in Metaphysics (especially freedom & moral responsibility), Philosophy of Religion, and Aesthetics. During 2003-4 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow in The Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame, and I taught Ethics for Notre Dame's Philosophy Department. I received my Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Rochester in 2003. My dissertation, Justification-Skepticism, was advised by Richard Feldman (director), Earl Conee, and Edward Wierenga.

Much more personal information is available at my personal page.

Specialization: Epistemology
Concentration: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion
Competence: History of Early Modern Philosophy, Ethics, Applied Ethics, Critical Thinking, Aesthetics, College Writing

CV

Full curriculum vitae

PUBLICATIONS

"Is it True that 'Evolution is a Theory, Not a Fact'?", International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 21:1 (Spring 2007), pp. 89-108.

“Moderate Reasons-Responsiveness, Moral Responsibility, and Manipulation”, in Freedom and Determinism (eds.) Joe Keim Campbell, Michael O'Rourke, and David Shier (MIT Press), 2004, pp. 151-172. A review of this paper by Eddy Nahmias appears in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.

“Belief or ‘Belief': Rush Rhees on Religious Belief Language”, Philosophical Writings, 12 (Autumn 1999), pp. 21-45.

“A Selective Defense of Tolstoy's What is Art?”, Philosophical Writings , 8 (Summer 1998), pp. 15-25.

REVIEWS

Review of Earl Conee and Theodore Sider, Riddles of Existence, Teaching Philosophy, 31:1 (2008), pp. 98-101.

Book Note of Stephen Hetherington, Reality? Knowledge? Philosophy!, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 83: 3 (September 2005), p. 447. [preprint available here]

Review of H.O. Mounce, Tolstoy on Aesthetics: What is Art?, Teaching Philosophy, 25:4 (December 2002), pp. 367-370.

Review of David M. Holley, Self-Interest and Beyond, Teaching Philosophy, 25:2 (June 2002), pp. 163-165.

Ph.D. DISSERTATION

Justification-Skepticism [abstract] , University of Rochester, 2003 (Director: Richard Feldman; Committee Members: Earl Conee and Edward Wierenga).

PRESENTATIONS

Presentations List

AWARDS & HONORS

CFA Distinguished Educator Award Nominee, California Faculty Association, Cal Poly, 2004-5

Postdoctoral Fellowship: Center for Philosophy of Religion, University of Notre Dame, 2003-4

Teaching Assistant of the Year: Graduate Program in Philosophy, University of Rochester, 2002-3

Best Essay of the Year: Graduate Program in Philosophy, University of Rochester, 2002-3

Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student, 2003 Nominee (nominated by Department of Philosophy), University of Rochester

Teaching Assistant of the Year: Graduate Program in Philosophy, University of Rochester, 2001-2

Best Essay of the Year: Graduate Program in Philosophy, University of Rochester, 2000-1

Fellowship/Teaching Assistantship: Graduate Program in Philosophy, University of Rochester, 1999-2003

Pew Younger Scholar: Graduate Summer Seminar: Foundationalism in Politics, Liberalism, Natural Law Theory and the Pluralist Alternative (Nicholas Wolterstorff), St. Edwards University, Summer 1999

Phillip S. Bashor Award: Outstanding Graduate Work in Philosophy, University of Arkansas, 1998-9

Teaching Assistantship: Graduate Program in Philosophy, University of Arkansas, 1998-9

Rotary Scholar: Ambassadorial Academic-Year Scholarship, University of Wales Swansea, 1997-8

Pre-Dissertation Work with Distinction: University of Wales Swansea

Outstanding Graduate Student in Philosophy Award: University of Southern Mississippi, 1994-5

Teaching Assistantship: Graduate Program in Philosophy, University of Southern Mississippi, 1994-5

Gamma Beta Phi National Honor Society, inducted 1995

Pi Tau Chi National Honor Society in Religion (and Scholarship recipient), 1995

GRANTS

California State Faculty Support Grant, Manipulation and Moral Responsibility, Fall 2006

College of Liberal Arts' Junior Faculty Support Grant, Cal Poly, Spring 2006

COURSES: CURRENT & UPCOMING

Spring 2008

Metaphysics (PHIL 411)

Epistemology of Religious Belief (PHIL 449)

Philosophical Classics: Metaphysics & Epistemology (PHIL 230)

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Referee, Australasian Journal of Philosophy [free will & moral responsibility]

Referee, Topics in Contemporary Philosophy (MIT Press) [free will & moral responsibility]

Referee, Journal of Philosophical Research [epistemology]

Referee, Synthese [epistemology]

Referee, Erkenntnis [epistemology]

Referee, Dialectica [epistemology]

Referee, Nous [epistemology]

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE

Administrative Service list

PERSONAL

Personal information & pictures

SUPER LINKS

Links to stuff I care about

Note: This website has not been endorsed or approved by California Polytechnic State University.