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27Emergence in science and philosophy (edited book)Routledge. 2010.The concept of emergence has seen a significant resurgence in philosophy and the sciences, yet debates regarding emergentist and reductionist visions of the natural world continue to be hampered by imprecision or ambiguity. Emergent phenomena are said to arise out of and be sustained by more basic phenomena, while at the same time exerting a "top-down" control upon those very sustaining processes. To some critics, this has the air of magic, as it seems to suggest a kind of circular causality. Ot…Read more
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25Review of Paul Pietroski, Causing Actions (review)Philosophical Review 111 (2): 291-294. 2002.The following assumptions are necessary to get the contemporary problem of mental causation off the ground
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24Review of George Molnar, Powers: A Study in Metaphysics (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2004 (2). 2004.
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23The Problem of Evil: introductionIn William Lane Craig (ed.), Philosophy of Religion: A Reader and Guide, Rutgers University Press. pp. 309--310. 2002.
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22Is God’s Necessity Necessary?Philosophia Christi 12 (2). 2010.I briefly defend the following claims in response to my critics: (1) We cannot make a principled division between features of contingent reality that do and features that don’t "cry our for explanation." (2) The physical data indicating fine-tuning provide confirmation of the hypothesis of a personal necessary cause of the universe over against an impersonal necessary cause, notwithstanding the fact that the probability of either hypothesis, if true, would be 1. (3) Theism that commits to God’s …Read more
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20The Dilemma of Freedom and ForeknowledgePhilosophical Review 102 (1): 139. 1993.Review of Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski, The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge.
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19Review of Derk Pereboom, Living Without Free Will (review)Philosophical Quarterly 53 (210): 308-310. 2003.Review of Derk Pereboom, Living Without Free Will
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14Is Free Will Just Another Chaotic Process? (Review of Three Books)Times Literary Supplement (Dec.5). 1997.Review of Richard Double, Metaphilosophy and Free Will; Thomas Pink, The Psychology of Freedom; and Robert Kane, The Significance of Free Will,
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12Causation and ResponsibilityIn Lawrence Becker & Charlotte Becker (eds.), Encyclopedia of Ethics, Garland Publishing. 2001.The concepts of responsibility and causation are entangled at various points. Different considerations arise depending on whether one focuses on responsibility for one’s very actions, or on the consequences of one’s actions which are partly the result of many factors outside one’s control.
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12Metaphysics (review)Philosophical Review 104 (2): 314-317. 1995.Book review of Peter van Inwagen's Metaphysics
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5Trying Without Willing: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 61 (1): 242-244. 2000.In the specialized and often peculiar conversation of philosophers, some speak of themselves and of others as willing our actions. Usually, they intend to imply thereby a distinctive kind of psychological event, one that lies at the origin of every instance of intentional action. This thesis, of course, has become highly controversial. Many argue that despite much traditional philosophical theorizing committed to such an essential feature of action, there is no basis for it in ordinary speech, i…Read more
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3Part III IntroductionIn Antonella Corradini & Timothy O'Connor (eds.), Emergence in Science and Philosophy, Routledge. pp. 6--207. 2010.
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The Argument from Consciousness RevisitedIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion Volume 3, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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Some Puzzles About Free AgencyDissertation, Cornell University. 1992.I discuss several issues that concern human freedom of action. I begin by addressing the question of whether moral responsibility for one's actions and the consequences thereof requires that one have the capacity to have refrained from the action or to have prevented the ensuing consequence. Drawing to a significant extent on Peter van Inwagen's discussion of this matter, I defend certain forms of "alternative possibilities" conditions on moral responsibility against several recent objections, a…Read more
Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Mind |
Philosophy of Religion |