Education
- 2006—: University of Arizona, Ph.D. Program [Ph.D. expected in 2012]
- 2002—2006: Lewis & Clark College, B.A. with Honors in Philosophy
Books
- Knowledge [with Nicholas D. Smith], Polity Press (forthcoming spring 2012). (This is a nine-chapter introductory text to the theory of knowledge. Contact me for a table of contents and a sample chapter.)
Articles
- “The Problem of the Basing Relation,” Synthese (forthcoming).
- “Sosa’s Dream,” [with Nathan Ballantyne] Philosophical Studies 148 (2010), 249—52.
Dissertation
Accepting It. Committee: Stewart Cohen (chair) • Juan Comesaña • Keith Lehrer
Most of us are aware of believing things we know we should not — often, we cannot help it. My dissertation comprises three papers exploring this phenomenon. In “Revealed Irrationality,” I defend the possibility of believing, of one of one’s beliefs, that it is irrational. “Doxastic Voluntarism: Some Recent Defenses” examines some recent defenses of the claim that we have voluntary control over what we believe and finds them wanting. But there is a propositional attitude we have control over — what I call acceptance — and in “Acceptance” I argue that we need this attitude to explain otherwise puzzling behavior.
Awards
- Philosophy Dept. Fink Prize for best Graduate Student, 2011–12
Teaching
- Philosophy & Psychiatry, summer 2009 (primary instructor)
- Introduction to Philosophy, spring 2008 (primary instructor)
- Medieval Philosophy (TA for Houston Smit, fall 2008)
- Philosophical Perspectives on Society (TA for Michael Gill, fall 2011)
- Philosophical Perspectives on the Individual (TA for Uriah Kriegel, spring 2011; TA for Shaun Nichols, fall 2010; TA for Marga Reimer, fall 2006)
- Mind, Matter, & God (TA for Christopher Maloney, spring and fall 2007)
- Ethics & Economics of Wealth Creation (TA for David Schmidtz, spring 2009)
Presentations
- “The Dispositionalist Gambit,” Northwest Philosophy Conference [2011]
- “Accepting It,” invited talk at Arché Research Centre [2011]
- “The Problem of the Basing Relation,” Northwestern/Notre Dame Graduate Epistemology Conference [2010]
- “Acceptance at a Glance,” Annual Philosophy of Religion Conference [2010]
- “The Problem of the Basing Relation,” Arché/CSMN Graduate Conference [2009]
- “The Infinite Progress of Klein’s Epistemology,” Northwest Philosophy Conference, [2007]
- “Basic Knowledge is Easy (to Lose),” University of Miami Graduate Epistemology Conference [2007]
- “Knowing that One Knows Revisited,” Pacific APA meeting [2006]
Membership
- American Philosophical Association
Service
- Referee for: Erkenntnis • Pacific Philosophical Quarterly • Philosophical Studies
- Graduate Program Review Committee, Department of Philosophy, University of Arizona [2008-2009]
Seminars
Epistemology (Juan Comesaña) ¶ Epistemology (Stewart Cohen) ¶ Epistemology (Stewart Cohen & John Pollock) ¶ Epistemology (Terry Horgan) ¶ Metaphysics (T. Horgan) ¶ Metaphysics (Laurie Paul) ¶ Hume (David Owen) ¶ Ethics (Mark Timmons) ¶ Kant (Houston Smit) ¶ Philosophy of Mathematics (Shaughan Lavine) ¶ First-year seminar (Keith Lehrer) ¶ Research ¶ Professionalization (Uriah Kriegel & Tom Christiano)
Other Courses
Symbolic Logic A (Shaughan Lavine) ¶ Symbolic Logic B (Shaughan Lavine) ¶ Model Theory (Shaughan Lavine) ¶ Unrestricted Quantification (Shaughan Lavine) ¶ Theory of Knowledge (Terry Horgan) ¶ Themes from Aristotle (Michael White) ¶ Rationalism & Empiricism (Houston Smit)
References
-
Stewart Cohen
Professor of Philosophy
University of Arizona
cohens [at] arizona.edu -
Juan Comesaña
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of Arizona
comesana [at] email.arizona.edu -
Keith Lehrer
Regents Professor of Philosophy
University of Arizona
lehrer [at] u.arizona.edu -
Nicholas D. Smith
James F. Miller Professor of Humanities
Lewis & Clark College
ndsmith [at] lclark.edu -
Michael McKenna [Teaching reference]
Keith Lehrer Chair of Philosophy
University of Arizona
msmckenna [at] u.arizona.edu