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107Explaining Explanationism’s Circularity Problem: Lessons from the History of SkepticismInternational Journal for the Study of Skepticism. forthcoming.In Explanatory Solutions to Skeptical Problems, McCain argues that “Phenomenal Explanationism” (PE) can resolve several of the most influential skeptical arguments from the history of epistemology. His engagement with skepticism, however, bears on much more than his particular brand of explanationism. Specifically, the way PE’s anti-skeptical strategy runs into circularity problems illustrates lessons for any attempt to refute these historically based forms of skepticism. I aim to demonstrate an…Read more
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6The Fourth Meditation and Cartesian CirclesRoczniki Filozoficzne 68 (2): 119-138. 2020.We offer a novel interpretation of the argumentative role that Meditation IV plays within the whole of the Meditations. This new interpretation clarifies several otherwise head-scratching claims that Descartes makes about Meditation IV, and it fully exonerates the Fourth Meditation from either raising or exacerbating Descartes’ circularity problems.
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836Is validity circular?Synthese 204 (4): 1-30. 2024.There is an old worry, which dates back to Mill but has analogs even in Sextus, that the very definition of ‘validity’ implies that all valid arguments are circular. This paper investigates how contemporary formal tools can ellucidate that old worry. Its main finding is the existence of a genuine puzzle: a difficult-to-avoid correspondence between the definitions of ‘valid argument’ and ‘premise circular argument’.
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610Review of J.L. Schellenberg's Religion After ScienceReligious Studies Review. forthcoming.Review of J.L. Schellenberg's Religion After Science: The Cultural Consequences of Religious Immaturity (Cambridge, 2019)
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2200The Fourth Meditation and Cartesian CirclesPhilosophical Annals: Special Issue on Descartes' Epistemology 68 (2): 119-138. 2020.We offer a novel interpretation of the argumentative role that Meditation IV plays within the whole of the Meditations. This new interpretation clarifies several otherwise head-scratching claims that Descartes makes about Meditation IV, and it fully exonerates the Fourth Meditation from either raising or exacerbating Descartes’ circularity problems.
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1547Against the new Cartesian CircleCanadian Journal of Philosophy 47 (1): 66-74. 2017.In two recent papers, Michael Della Rocca accuses Descartes of reasoning circularly in the Fourth Meditation. This alleged new circle is distinct from, and more vicious than, the traditional Cartesian Circle arising in the Third Meditation. We explain Della Rocca’s reasons for this accusation, showing that his argument is invalid.
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1127Love, Justice, and Divine SimplicityIn Ingolf Dalferth (ed.), Claremont Studies in the Philosophy of Religion: Love and Justice, Mohr Siebeck. 2019.This paper raises an underappreciated paradox for classical theism. Love seems to be an inherently biased and partial relation. Justice seems to require the opposite, detached impartiality (think of the attributes of the just judge). But if these are conceptual facts, then classical theism is guilty of ascribing inconsistent attributes to God: perfect love and perfect justice. I resolve this paradox in a manner that weighs in favor of the principle of divine simplicity.
Saint Louis University
PhD, 2019
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
| Epistemology |
| Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
| 17th/18th Century Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
2 more
| Skepticism |
| René Descartes |
| History: Skepticism |
| Kant: Epistemology |
| History of Logic |
| Philosophy of Religion |
| Medical Ethics |
PhilPapers Editorships
| Skepticism |
| Varieties of Skepticism |
| Replies to Skepticism |
| History: Skepticism |
| Skepticism, Misc |