I am an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at California Polytechnic State University. I have been granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor (effective September 14, 2009). During my 2009-10 sabbatical, I will be a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Rochester--one of the world's premier research universities--located in Rochester, New York, the state's 3rd largest city, and among the best U.S. cities for quality of life. Cal Poly, located in San Luis Obispo on California's beautiful Central Coast, has been rated the best public master's university in the west by U.S. News & World Report for 16 consecutive years (1992-2008). San Luis Obispo routinely makes top-ten lists for places to live. 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.

More personal information is available here.

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

"A Proper De Jure Objection to the Epistemic Rationality of Religious Belief", Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion (forthcoming).

"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

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

I have served as a referee for papers or books on topics in epistemology or metaphysics of free will and moral responsibility for the following:

Nous

Mind

Philosophical Studies

Australasian Journal of Philosophy

Routledge

Topics in Contemporary Philosophy (MIT Press)

Journal of Philosophical Research

Synthese

Erkenntnis

Dialectica

AWARDS & HONORS

Awarded tenure, California Polytechnic State University (effective September 14, 2009)

Promotion to Associate Professor, California Polytechnic State University (effective 9-14-09)

Full-Year Sabbatical, California Polytechnic State University, 2009-10

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

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

COURSES: CURRENT & UPCOMING

Fall 2009 (University of Rochester)

Ethics

Moral Problems

Reason and Argument

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE

Administrative Service list

PERSONAL

Personal information & pictures

SUPER LINKS

Links to stuff I care about

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