I'm a PhD candidate (C.Phil status, so I'm ABD) in philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Presently, I'm writing a dissertation on various metaphysical, epistemological, and (when the need arises) logical issues related to miracles. [...Waiting for the laughter to die down...] In short, I want to answer to the same three questions David Hume asked in "Of Miracles": (i) Just in case I should encounter one someday, what is a miracle? Put differently, I'd like to know what the word `miracle' mean? (ii) If a miracle is even possible (a question itself), then what is the relationship between them and the actual set of …
I'm a PhD candidate (C.Phil status, so I'm ABD) in philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Presently, I'm writing a dissertation on various metaphysical, epistemological, and (when the need arises) logical issues related to miracles. [...Waiting for the laughter to die down...] In short, I want to answer to the same three questions David Hume asked in "Of Miracles": (i) Just in case I should encounter one someday, what is a miracle? Put differently, I'd like to know what the word `miracle' mean? (ii) If a miracle is even possible (a question itself), then what is the relationship between them and the actual set of laws of nature presumably governing the universe? And (iii) since I've never witnessed a miracle, I'm interested in just what sort of evidentiary role witness play in testifying to what they've seen; specifically, does a reliable witnesses increase the degree of reasonable belief I should have for what they've claimed?
Before my interest in philosophy of religion ripened, I wrote a Master's Thesis on Quine's use of (Russell style) Definite Descriptions in his metaontology. This got me very interested in langage, philosophy of logic, and metaphysics. I continue to keep up my interest on Quine, Russell, philosophy of language (esp: descriptions), and metaontology when I have free time. I choose my graduate program based on these interests, and times have changed.
I also like to teach. I've taught History of 20th Century Philosophy (6x), Introduction to Symbolic Logic (4x), Critical Thinking (10x), Intro (4x), Ethics (2x), Philosophy and Film (1x, which got canceled). I've won two teaching awards and was an official nominee for the Academic Senate's, University-wide Teaching Assistant award.