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612Compatibilism and the Free Will DefenseIn Hugh J. McCann (ed.), Free Will and Classical Theism: The Significance of Free Will in Perfect Being Theology, Oxford University Press. 2016.
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272Bringing About Perfect WorldsIn Kevin Timpe & Daniel Speak (eds.), Free Will and Theism: Connections, Contingencies, and Concerns, Oxford University Press Uk. pp. 195-213. 2016.
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Best Worlds and MultiversesIn KIaas Kraay (ed.), God and the Multiverse: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives, Routledge. 2014.
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Skeptical Theism and Undercutting DefeatersIn Trent Dougherty & Justin P. McBrayer (eds.), New Essays on Skeptical Theism, Oxford University Press. pp. 115-131. 2014.
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30Chance, Epistemic Probability, and Saving Lives: Reply to BradleyJournal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 5 (1). 2010.No abstract.
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Rollbacks, Endorsements, and IndeterminismIn Mike Almeida & Mark H. Bernstein (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, 2nd Edition. pp. 484-498. 2010.
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170Marginal Cases and the Moral Status of EmbryosIn J. M. Humber & R. F. Almeder (eds.), Stem Cell Research. Biomedical Ethics Reviews., Springer. 2004.
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Utility Pumps and the Value of Partial ComplianceIn Imperceptible Harms and Benefits, Springer. 2000.
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79The Unreal Problem of No Best WorldPhilo 9 (2): 103-112. 2006.Suppose it is a reasonable assumption that there is no possible world that is overall highest in value. Some theists have found in thatassumption a basis for actualizing a less-than-best world. Some atheists have found in that assumption a basis for actualizing no world at all. I present a dynamic choice model for the problem and describe the rationality assumptions necessary to generate a rational choice problem for an ideally rational agent. I show that at least one of the rationality assumpti…Read more
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19Arthur Ron Miller, 1949-2006Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 80 (2). 2006.
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301Being, Freedom, and Method: Themes from the Philosophy of Peter van Inwagen, edited by John A. Keller (review)Faith and Philosophy 35 (2): 264-271. 2018.
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1370Cosmological ArgumentsCambridge University Press. 2018.The book discusses the structure, content, and evaluation of cosmological arguments. The introductory chapter investigates features essential to cosmological arguments. Traditionally, cosmological arguments are distinguished by their appeal to change, causation, contingency or objective becoming in the world. But none of these is in fact essential to the formulation of cosmological arguments. Chapters 1-3 present a critical discussion of traditional Thomistic, Kalam, and Leibnizian cosmological …Read more
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783Theistic Modal Realism II: Theoretical BenefitsPhilosophy Compass 12 (7). 2017.In Sections 1–7, I provide a detailed description of some of the advantages of theistic modal realism. The aim is to show specifically how theistic modal realism solves many of the intractable problems of philosophical theology. A detailed description of all of the advantages would require a much longer treatment. The aim is to give a good sense of the theoretical benefits that theistic modal realism affords traditional theists. I offer some concluding remarks in Section 8.
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1141Theistic Modal Realism I: The Challenge of Theistic ActualismPhilosophy Compass 12 (7). 2017.The main aim in the forthcoming discussion is to contrast theistic modal realism and theistic actualist realism. Actualist realism is the dominant view among theists and presents the most serious challenge to theistic modal realism. I discuss various prominent forms of theistic actualist realism. I offer reasons for rejecting the view of metaphysical reality that actualist realism affords. I discuss theistic modal realism and show that the traditional conception of God is perfectly consist…Read more
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79The Metaphysics of Perfect BeingsRoutledge. 2008._The Metaphysics of Perfect Beings_ addresses the problems an Anselmian perfect being faces in contexts involving unlimited options. Recent advances in the theory of vagueness, the metaphysics of multiverses and hyperspace, the theory of dynamic or sequential choice, the logic of moral and rational dilemmas, and metaethical theory provide the resources to formulate the new challenges and the Anselmian responses with an unusual degree of precision. Almeida shows that the challenges arising in the…Read more
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30O’Connor’s Permissive MultiversePhilosophia Christi 12 (2): 297-307. 2010.I distinguish restrictive and permissive multiverse solutions to the problems of evil and no best world. Restrictive multiverses do not admit a single instance of gratuitous evil and they are not improvable. I show that restrictive multiverses unacceptably entail that all modal distinctions collapse. I consider Timothy O’Connor’s permissive multiverse. I show that a perfect creator minimizes aggregative suffering in permissive multiverses only if the actual universe is not included in any actual…Read more
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235Refuting Van Inwagen's 'refutation': Evidentialism againInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 44 (1). 1998.
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159Opportunistic carnivorismJournal of Applied Philosophy 17 (2). 2000.Some carnivores defend the position that the opportunistic consumption of meat is morally permissible even under the assumption that it is morally wrong to act in ways that ause unnecessary suffering to sentient beings. Ordering and consuming chicken once a week, they argue, will not increase the numbers of chickens suffering or slaughtered, since the system of purchasing and farming chickens is not sufficiently fine‐tuned to register differences at margin. We argue that, insensitivity of the ma…Read more
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59A Frightening Love: Recasting the Problem of Evil by Gleeson Andrew (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 91 (3): 607-610. 2013.No abstract
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68The enlargement of life: Moral imagination at work – John Kekes (review)Philosophical Quarterly 58 (231). 2008.
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175Rowe's argument from freedomInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 53 (2): 83-91. 2003.
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246Is It Impossible to Be Moral?Dialogue 44 (1): 3-13. 2005.ABSTRACT: Recent work in moral theory includes an intriguing new argument that the vagueness of moral properties, together with two well-known and well-received metaethical principles, entails the incredible conclusion that it is impossible to be moral. I show that the argument equivocates between “it is true that A and B are morally indistinguishable” and “it is not false that A and B are morally indistinguishable.” As expected the argument is interesting but unsound. It is therefore not imposs…Read more
The Ohio State University
Alumnus
San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Metaphysics |
20th Century Analytic Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Language |
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Value Theory |