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634Compatibilism 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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289Bringing 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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172Marginal 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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80The 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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304Being, 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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1405Cosmological 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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792Theistic 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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1164Theistic 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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31O’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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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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180Rowe's argument from freedomInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 53 (2): 83-91. 2003.
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249Is 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
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59Critically Muddled: A Reply to CarrierPhilo 11 (1): 120-129. 2008.In a recent article in Philo I critique William Rowe’s new evidential argument from evil. Richard Carrier claims I advance an argument for theism in that article and proposes a counterexample to that argument. I show that Carrier’s counterexample fails for reasons that are fairly obvious. I then offer help. The best chance for a counterexample to the argument I offer comes from the possibility of cryptid creatures. But it is not difficult to show that counterexamples from cryptic creatures also …Read more
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78The New Evidential Argument DefeatedPhilo 7 (1): 22-35. 2004.In his most recent version of the evidential argument from evil, William Rowe argues that the observation of no outweighing goods for certain evils constitutes significant evidence against theism. I show that the new evidential argument cannot challenge theism unless it is also reasonable to believe that no good we know of justifies God in permitting any evil at all. Since the new evidential argument provides no reason at all to believe that God is not justified in permitting any existing evil, …Read more
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100Deontic logic and the possibility of moral conflictErkenntnis 33 (1). 1990.Standard dyadic deontic logic (as well as standard deontic logic) has recently come under attack by moral philosophers who maintain that the axioms of standard dyadic deontic logic are biased against moral theories which generate moral conflicts. Since moral theories which generate conflicts are at least logically tenable, it is argued, standard dyadic deontic logic should be modified so that the set of logically possible moral theories includes those which generate such conflicts. I argue that …Read more
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486Supervenience and property-identical divine-command theoryReligious Studies 40 (3): 323-333. 2004.Property-identical divine-command theory (PDCT) is the view that being obligatory is identical to being commanded by God in just the way that being water is identical to being H2O. If these identity statements are true, then they express necessary a posteriori truths. PDCT has been defended in Robert M. Adams (1987) and William Alston (1990). More recently Mark C. Murphy (2002) has argued that property-identical divine-command theory is inconsistent with two well-known and well-received theses: …Read more
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145On Evil's Vague NecessityIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion: Volume 2, Oxford University Press Uk. 2009.
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 |