CURRICULUM
VITAE
MICHAEL
TOOLEY
Education
University
of Toronto, 1959-64.
B.A., 1964.
Princeton University, 1964-67.
Ph.D., 1968.
Personal
Date of
birth: 17 March
1941
Place of birth: Toronto,
Canada
Married to Sylvia Tooley, with
daughters Sandra and Suzanne, and grandchildren Anthony,
Joshua, Donald, Joseph, and Sofia.
Citizenship: American and Canadian.
President,
American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, 2010-2011.
Vice
President, American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division,
2009-2010.
The Cecil
H. and Ida Green Honors Chair Professor, Texas Christian
University, Spring, 2010
The John Dewey Lecture, "A Philosophical
Journey," American Philosophical Association, Central Division,
Chicago, February, 2009.
College
Professor of Distinction, Arts and Sciences,
University of Colorado at Boulder, 2006-
Faculty
Fellowship. University of Colorado at Boulder, 2006-2007.
Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Research Award,
1998-1999.
JSPS Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan.
Awarded by
the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 1999.
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
President, Australasian Association of Philosophy, 1983-1984.
Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellow, 1966-1967.
Woodrow Wilson Fellow, 1964-1965.
Current
Position
Distinguished
College
Professor, Arts and Sciences, University of Colorado. 2006-
University
of Colorado, Philosophy Department: Professor, 1992–present, now
retired.
Previous
Positions
Bowling Green State University,
Adjunct Professor, 2004-09.
The Australian National University,
Philosophy Program, Research School of Social Sciences: Senior Research
Fellow, 1988-92; Senior Fellow, 1992.
University of Western Australia, Philosophy
Department: Professor,
1983-88; Head of Department, 1985-88.
University of Miami, Philosophy Department: Associate Professor,
1981-82; Professor, 1982-83.
Wichita State University, Philosophy
Department: Visiting
Associate Professor, 1980-81.
University of Utah, Philosophy Department: Visiting Associate
Professor, 1977.
The Australian National University,
Philosophy Program, Research School of Social Sciences: Research Fellow,
1974-79; Senior Research Fellow, 1979-80.
Stanford
University, Philosophy Department, Assistant Professor, 1967-74.
Professional
Organizations
American
Philosophical Association
(President, 2010-2011)
Australasian Association of Philosophy (President, 1983-1984)
Australian Academy of the Humanities
Other
Professional Activities
Editorial
Board: Journal of
Controversial Ideas, Philo.
Referee:
American
Philosophical Quarterly, Australasian Journal of
Philosophy, Bioethics,
British Journal for the
Philosophy of Science, Dialogue, Erkenntnis, Ethics, Mind, Noûs, Philosophical
Studies, Philosophy of Science, and Synthese.
Referee: Oxford University Press.
TEACHING: Courses
The main
courses that I taught were as follows:
Philosophy
1100: Introduction
to Ethics
Philosophy
3340: Epistemology
Philosophy
4360: Metaphysics
Philosophy
5340: Epistemology
Philosophy
5360: Metaphysics
Philosophy
6340: Seminar in
Epistemology
Philosophy
6380: Seminar in
Causation and Laws of Nature
Philosophy
6380: Seminar in
Philosophy of Time
TEACHING: Thesis Supervision
Ph.D.
Dissertations
Christian Lee – Thesis: Adding Goods (2012)
Tyler Hildebrand – Thesis: Empiricism, Natural
Regularity, and Necessity (2011)
Iain Martel – Thesis: Probabilistic Empiricism:
In Defense of a Reichenbachian Theory of Causality and the
Direction of Time (2000)
M.A.
Dissertations
Walter Gorsuch – Thesis: On Merricks’ Definition of ‘Whole
Presence’ and the Alleged Contradiction that Arises between
Eternalism and Endurantism (2013)
Jay Geyer – Thesis: Compatibilism,
Intralevelism, and Bi-Directional Determination (2012)
Undergraduate
Honors Theses
At the undergraduate level, I supervised the
following honors theses:
Zachary
Rojas (2013) On Effects Preceding their
Causes.
Patrick Decker (2010)
A Defense of Qualia. (Patrick was admitted
to the Ph.D. program at Princeton University.)
Bridgette
Bailie Peterson (2010) Temporal Becoming and
Dynamic Time. (Bailie
completed her Ph.D. at the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2017 and is now an assistant
professor in philosophy at the University of Northern
Colorado.)
Jack Spencer (2007)
Meta-Laws.
(Jack completed his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 2013, and
is now an associate professor in philosophy at M.I.T.)
Heidi
Buetow (2004) Persistence through Time
and Change. (Heidi completed her Ph.D. at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst in 2014 and is now an associate
professor in philosophy at Manhattan College.)
Alex Baia
(2004) The Non-Contradiction of
Tensed Facts: A
Partial Reply to McTaggart.
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
My primary
research interests are in the areas of metaphysics,
epistemology, philosophy of religion, and ethics. In
metaphysics, my work is concerned with the nature of time,
causation, and laws of nature. In epistemology, I am interested
in problems connected with our knowledge of the physical world
and other minds, and in the classical problem of induction. In
philosophy of religion, my primary focus is upon the question of
the rationality or irrationality of belief in the existence of
God. In ethics, my research is concerned with issues in the area
of applied ethics, including sexual morality, euthanasia,
abortion, and cloning.
Books -
Published
The
Problem of Evil,
Cambridge Elements Series (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2019).
Abortion
– Three Perspectives (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2009) (This
book, which is co-authored with Professor Alison Jaggar,
Professor Philip E. Devine, and Associate Professor Emerita
Celia Wolf-Devine, is in the Point/Counterpoint series edited by
James Sterba.)
Knowledge
of God (Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing, 2008) (This
book, which I co-authored with Professor Alvin Plantinga, is in
Blackwell's Great Debates in Philosophy series.)
La natura del tempo,
(Milano: McGraw-Hill, 1999).
(This is an Italian translation, by Michele Visentin, of Time, Tense, and Causation,
with a new preface and some revisions.)
Analytical Metaphysics
(New York: Garland Publishing, 1999). Edited, five volumes:
Volume 1:
Laws of Nature, Causation, and Supervenience
Volume 2: The Nature
of Time
Volume 3: Properties
Volume 4: Particulars,
Actuality, and Identity
Volume 5: Necessity
and Possibility
Time,
Tense, and Causation, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1997). Reprinted in a revised,
paperback edition in 2000.
Causation,
(Oxford: Oxford
University Press, Readings in Philosophy Series, 1993). Co-edited with Professor
Ernest Sosa.
Causation: A Realist Approach,
(Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1987).
Abortion and Infanticide,
(Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1983). Reprinted
in a paperback edition in 1985.
Current and Future
Projects
Book Forthcoming
A Defense of a
Non-Reductionist Approach to Causation
This book has been
accepted for publication by Oxford University Press.
I have a draft of about 80,000 words, which I expect to expand
only slightly, so I should have a final draft done within a few
months.
1. Abortion: A Woman's Right to Choose?
This book will be a (probably
ill-fated!) attempt to reach ordinary people by first
explaining the philosophical ideas that are crucial in
thinking about the moral status of abortion, and then showing
how those ideas can be used to show that several important
arguments on both sides of the issue are unsound. I shall then
set out and defend the approach that establishes that women do
have a right to abortion. Finally, I shall conclude by
commenting critically upon the arguments that contemporary
philosophers have advanced for the view that abortion is
seriously wrong.
2. Letting Go of Christianity - An Invitation
Several books have
been written in recent years either criticizing Christianity
or arguing for atheism. These books contain some important
arguments, but, with rare exceptions, the authors are not
philosophers, with the result that some of the arguments
offered are dubious, while other important arguments are never
mentioned.
In addition, the
tone of some of these books has been rather strident. My goal,
accordingly, is, first of all, to produce a book that is
friendly in tone, as would be the case if one were talking to a
good friend, and then secondly, to set out all of the most
important objections to Christianity.
Articles
Articles Presently
Submitted to Journals
1. "Rudolf Carnap
and Logical Probability: Three Crucial Missteps"
2. "A
State-Description-Based Rule of Succession"
“A Refutation of an
Objection to the Growing Block View of Time”
Craig Bourne and
David Braddon-Mitchell have both argued that a ‘growing block’
view of the nature of time cannot be correct because it would
follow that one could not know that it is now now. I show
that the argument rests upon an unsound account analysis of tensed
statements, and that, given a sound account, one can know, on a growing
block view, that it is now now.
Articles and Chapters
Published
“Causation: A Non-Reductionist, Theoretical-Term
Analysis,” Chapter 2 in Alternative Approaches to Causation: Beyond
Difference-making and
Mechanism, edited by
Yafeng Shan, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press), 2024, 13-38.
"Wes Morriston’s ‘Skeptical Demonism’ Argument from Evil
“Calum Miller’s Attempted
Refutation of Michael Tooley’s Evidential Argument from Evil.” Religious Studies.
First published online, August 2022. Print edition, Religious Studies,
2023, 59, 783–800.
“Masturbation and the Problem of
Irrational and Immoral Sexual Activity,” Chapter 8 in The
Palgrave Handbook of Sexual Ethics, edited by
David Boonin, (London: Palgrave Macmillan), 2022, 129-52.
Chapter 6, Mathematics, co-authored with
Stephen Kershnar, in Stephen Kershnar's Desert Collapses - Why No
One Deserves Anything (New York: Routledge, 2022),
pp.108-23.
“Afterthoughts,” International
Journal
for Philosophy of Religion 87, 2020, 234-37.
“Analyzing Sterba’s Argument,” International Journal
for Philosophy of Religion 87, 2020,
217–222.
“Evidence,” in A Companion to Atheism
and Philosophy, edited by Graham Oppy (Oxford: Wiley
Blackwell, 2019), pp. 303-22.
“A New Look at Evidential Arguments
from Evil,” in The
History of Evil From
the
Mid-Twentieth Century to Today - 1950 to 2018 CE, volume VI, edited by Jerome
Gellman, Chad Meister, and Charles Taliaferro (New York and
London: Routledge Press, 2018), pp. 28-44.
“Axiology: Theism Versus Widely
Accepted Monotheisms,” in Does God Matter?,
edited by Klaas J. Kraay (New York and Abingdon, England,
2018), pp. 46-69.
“Solutions to the New Threats
to Academic Freedom?" Bioethics,
28/4, 2014, 163-5.
“Michael Tooley” in Science and Religion: Five
Questions, edited by Gregg D. Caruso, Copenhagen,
Automatic Press /VIP, 2014, 223-33.
"Abortion," in The Cambridge Companion
to Life and Death, edited by Steven Luper, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2014, 243-63.
“Philosophy, Critical Thinking,
and ‘After-Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?’” The Journal of Medical
Ethics 39/5, 2013, 266-72.
Available free online as the “Editor’s Choice” article
for this issue: http://jme.bmj.com/content/39/5/266.full
“Michael Huemer and the Principle
of Phenomenal Conservatism,” in Seemings and Justification –
New Essays on Dogmatism and Phenomenal Conservatism,
edited by Chris Tucker, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013,
306-27.
“Abortion,” in Oxford Bibliographies
Online: Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2013.
“Plantinga’s New Argument against
Materialism,” Philosophia
Christi, 14/1, 2012, 29-48.
“Inductive Logic and the
Probability that God Exists: Farewell to Skeptical Theism,” in Probability in the
Philosophy of Religion, edited by Jake Chandler and
Victoria S. Harrison, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012,
144-64.
“Against Presentism: Two Very
Different Types of Objection,” in Future of the Philosophy
of Time, edited by Adrian Barton, New York, Routledge,
2012, 25-40.
“The Skeptical Challenges of Hume
and Berkeley: Can They Be Answered?” Presidential Address,
American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, San
Diego, given in April, 2011, and published in Proceedings and Addresses
of the American Philosophical Association, 85/2, 2011,
27-46.
“Are
Nonhuman Animals Persons?” in The Oxford Handbook of
Animal Ethics, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and R. G. Frey,
Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011, 332-70.
“Naturalism,
Science, and Religion,” in The Nature of Nature,
edited by Bruce L. Gordon and William A. Dembski, Wilmington,
Delaware, ISI Books, 2011, 880-99.
“Hume and the Problem of Evil,”
in Philosophy of
Religion: The Key Thinkers, edited by Jeffrey J. Jordan,
London and New York, Continuum, 2011, 159-86.
“Michael
Tooley” in Metaphysics:
Five Questions, edited by Asbjørn Steglich-Petersen,
Copenhagen, Automatic Press /VIP, 2010, 143-59.
“Farewell to McTaggart’s
Argument?” – Philosophia,
38/, 2010, 243-55.
“Time, Truth, Actuality, and
Causation: On the Impossibility of Divine Foreknowledge,” European Journal for the
Philosophy of Religion, 2/1, 2010, 143-61.
“A Philosophical Journey,” The John Dewey Lecture,
American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Chicago,
given in February, 2009, and published in Proceedings and Addresses
of the American Philosophical Association, 83/2, 2009,
97-115.
“Helping People to Think
Critically About Their Religious Beliefs”, in 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why
We Are Atheists, edited by Russell Blackford and Udo
Schüklenk, New York, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, 310-22.
“Causation," in The Routledge Companion to
Metaphysics, edited by Robin LePoidevin, Peter Simons, Andrew McGonigal, Ross Cameron, New York, Routledge, 2009,
459-70.
"Grünbaum on Space and Time,” in
Philosophy
of Religion, Physics, and Psychology: Essays in Honor of
Adolf Grünbaum, edited by Aleksandar Jokic,
Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2009, 259-86.
"Personhood," in A Companion to Bioethics
– Second Edition, edited by Helge Kuhse and Peter Singer,
Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2009, 129-39. (This is a revised and
expanded version of my essay in the first edition in 1998.)
"Causes, Laws, and Ontology," in
The Oxford Handbook of
Causation, edited by Helen Beebee, Christopher Hitchcock,
and Peter Menzies, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009, 368-86
"Two Arguments for Absolute
Simultaneity," in Einstein, Relativity and Absolute
Simultaneity, edited by William Lane Craig and
Quentin Smith, London and New York, Routledge, 2008, 229-43.
"Evil, Problem of," in The New Encyclopedia
of Unbelief, edited by Tom Flynn, Amherst, New York,
Prometheus Books, 2007, 302-10.
"The Problem of Evil," Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/,
Revised and expanded version, July, 2007.
"Metaphysics, Nature of
(Addendum)," in The
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition, edited by
Donald Borchert, Volume 6, Farmington Hills, Michigan,
Macmillan Reference, 2006, 208-12.
"Causal Approaches to the
Direction of Time," in The Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, 2nd edition, edited by Donald Borchert,
Volume 2, Farmington Hills, Michigan, Macmillan Reference,
2006, 85-88.
"Causation: Metaphysical
Issues," in The
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition, edited by
Donald Borchert, Volume 2, Farmington Hills, Michigan,
Macmillan Reference, 2006, 95-103.
"Aborto e Infanticidio," a
Portuguese translation of "Abortion and Infanticide," in A Etica do Aborto,
edited by, and translations done by, Pedro Galvao, Lisbon,
Portugal: Dinalivro,
2005, 69-104.
"Presentism,"
in
Chronos (The
Annual Proceedings of the Philosophy of Time
Society), VII, 2004-2005, 98-131.
"In Defense of Voluntary
Active Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide," in Contemporary Debates in Applied
Ethics, edited by
Andrew Cohen, and Christopher Wellman, Blackwell
Publishing, Oxford, 2005, 161-78.
“Probability and
Causation,” in Causation
and Chance, edited by Phil Dowe and Paul Noordhof,
Routledge, London, 2004, 77-119.
"Basic Tensed Sentences and
their Analysis," in Time,
Tense, and Reference, edited by Aleksandar Jokic and
Quentin Smith, MIT Press, Massachusetts, 2003, 409-47.
"Causation and Supervenience,"
in the Oxford Handbook
of Metaphysics, edited by Michael J. Loux and Dean W.
Zimmerman, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003, 386-434.
"Euthanasia and Assisted
Suicide," in A
Companion to Applied Ethics, edited by R. G. Frey and
Christopher Heath Wellman, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2003,
326-41.
"The Stalnaker-Lewis Approach
to Counterfactuals," Journal
of Philosophy, 100/7, 2003, 371-77.
"Backward Causation and the
Stalnaker-Lewis Approach to Counterfactuals," Analysis, 62, 2002,
191-97.
"The Problem of Evil," Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/,
September, 2002.
"Response to Robin Le
Poidevin’s 'Is Precedence a Secondary Quality?’," in The Importance of Time,
edited by L. Nathan Oaklander, Kluver, Dordrecht, 2001,
267-84.
"Response to Comments on Time, Tense, and
Causation," in The
Importance of Time, edited by L. Nathan Oaklander,
Kluver, Dordrecht, 2001, 31-58.
"Functional Concepts,
Referentially Opaque Contexts, Causal Relations, and the
Definition of Theoretical Terms," Philosophical Studies,
105/3, 2001, 251-279.
"Freedom and Foreknowledge," Faith and Philosophy
17, 2000, 212-24.
"Is Backward Causation
Logically Possible?" in Philosophical
Studies (Department of Philosophy, The University of
Tokyo), 18, 1999, 1-32.
(This paper consists of a combination of material from
sections 3.2, 4.5, and 4.6 from the 1997 edition of Time, Tense, and
Causation, together with material added to correct an
error in that earlier discussion. The added material
was then used in the revised, paperback edition of Time, Tense, and
Causation (2000), partly in section 4.6.2, but mainly in
the Appendix.)
"The Metaphysics of Time," in The Arguments of Time
(The British Academy Centenary volume on Time), edited by Jeremy
Butterfield, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999, 21-42.
A Japanese translation of "The
Moral Status of the Cloning of Humans," in Studien zur Praktischen
Philosophie (Jissentetsugaku-Kenkyu),
22, 1999, 53-97.
“Causation," in The MIT Encyclopedia of the
Cognitive Sciences, edited by Robert Wilson and Frank
Keil, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1999, 108-110.
"Speciesism and Basic Moral
Principles," in Etica
& Animali, (Special Issue Devoted to Nonhuman
Personhood) 9, 1998, 5-36.
"Personhood," in A Companion to Bioethics,
edited by Peter Singer and Helge Kuhse, Blackwell Publishers,
Oxford, 1998, 117-26.
"The Moral Status of the Cloning
of Humans," in Biomedical
Ethics Reviews: Human Cloning, edited by James Humber and
Robert Almeder, Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey, 1998, 65-101. Reprinted in the Monash Bioethics Review,
18/1, 1999, 27-49. Partially
reprinted in Applying
Ethics, 7th Edition, edited by Jeffrey Olen and Vincent
Barry, Wadsworth, Belmont, California, 2002, 287-98, and in Questions of Life and Death
– Readings in Practical Ethics, edited by Christopher W.
Morris, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012, 469-86. Also translated into
Japanese.
"Values, Obligation, and the
Asymmetry Question," in Bioethics,
12/2, 1998, 111-24.
"Causation," in The Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, Supplement,
edited by Donald M. Borchert, New York, Simon & Schuster
Macmillan, 1996, 72-5.
"Voluntary Euthanasia: Active Versus Passive,
and the Question of Consistency," in Revue Internationale de
Philosophie, 49/3, 1995, 305-22.
"Our Current Drug Legislation:
Grounds for Reconsideration," Newsletter of the Center
for Values and Social Policy, 7/1, 1994, 1-3. Reprinted in: Current Issues and Enduring
Questions, 4th ed., edited by Sylvan Barnet and Hugo
Bedau, Bedford Books, Boston, 1996, 385-8.
"The Argument from Evil," in Philosophical Perspectives,
5 - Philosophy of Religion, 1991, edited by James E.
Tomberlin, Ridgeview Publishing, Atascadero, California, 1991,
89-134.
"Ethics, Meta-Ethics, and
Philosophical Thinking," in Introduction to Ethical Theory, edited by Kenneth
F. Rogerson, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Fort Worth, Texas,
1991, 11-19. (This
is a reprinting of sections 1.2-1.4 of Abortion and Infanticide.)
"Causation: Reductionism Versus
Realism," in Philosophy
and Phenomenological Research, 50, Supplement, 1990,
215-36.
"The Nature of Causation: A
Singularist Account," in Canadian
Philosophers: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Canadian Journal
of Philosophy, edited by David Copp, Canadian Journal of
Philosophy, Supplementary 16, 1990, 271-322. Reprinted in: Metaphysics: An Anthology,
edited by Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa, Blackwell, Oxford, 1999,
458-82.
"Abtreibung und Kindstötung," a
German translation of "Abortion and Infanticide," with a new
Postscript (1989), in Um
Leben und Tod, edited by Anton Leist, Suhrkamp Verlag,
Frankfurt am Main, 1990, 157-95.
A Japanese translation of
"Abortion and Infanticide" in The Bases of Bioethics,
edited by Hisatake Kato and Nobuyuki Iida, Tokai University
Press, Tokyo, 1988, 94-110.
"In Defense of the Existence of
States of Motion," Philosophical
Topics, 16/1, 1988, 225-54.
"Ett försvar för abort och
spädbarnsavlivande," in Abortetik,
edited by Thomas Anderberg and Ingmar Persson, Doxa, Lund,
Sweden, 1987, 115-44. (A
Swedish translation of the complete text of "In Defense of
Abortion and Infanticide.")
"Response to Mary Anne Warren,"
in Philosophical Books,
January, 1985, 9-14.
"Laws and Causal Relations," in Midwest Studies in
Philosophy, Volume IX, edited by Peter French, Theodore
Uehling, and Howard Wettstein, University of Minnesota Press,
Minnesota, 1984, 93-112.
"In Defense of Abortion and
Infanticide," in Moral
Issues, edited by Jan Narveson, Oxford University Press,
Toronto and New York, 1983, 215-33; in The Problem of Abortion,
2nd Edition, edited by Joel Feinberg, Wadsworth, Belmont,
California, 1984, 120-34; in Bioethics - Readings and
Cases, edited by Baruch Brody and Tristram Engelhardt,
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1987, 146-52; and
in What Is a Person?,
edited by Michael Goodman, Humana Press, Clifton, New Jersey,
1988. This article
has also been translated into Swedish.
"Plantinga's Defence of the
Ontological Argument," Mind,
90, 1981, 422-7.
"Alvin Plantinga and the Argument
from Evil," Australasian
Journal of Philosophy, 58/4, 1980, 360-76.
"An Irrelevant Consideration: Killing Versus Letting
Die," in Killing and
Letting Die, edited by Bonnie Steinbock, Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1980, 56-62.
"Decisions to Terminate Life and
the Concept of a Person," in Ethical Issues Relating to Life and Death, edited
by John Ladd, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979, 62-92.
"Infanticide: A Philosophical
Perspective," in the Encyclopedia
of Bioethics, edited by Warren T. Reich, Free Press, New
York, 1978, 742-51.
"The Nature of Laws," Canadian Journal of
Philosophy, 7/4, 1977, 667-98. Reprinted
in: The Philosophy of
Science - Volume 1 - Explanation, Law, and
Cause, edited by Lawrence Sklar, New York and London,
2000, 261-92, and in Readings
on Laws of Nature, edited by John W. Carroll,
University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
2004, 38-70.
"Would ETIs Be Persons?," in Extra Terrestrial
Intelligence, edited by James L. Christian, Prometheus
Books, Buffalo, NY, 1976, 129-45.
"John Hick and the Concept of
Eschatological Verification," Religious Studies, 12, 1976, 177-99.
"Theological Statements and the
Question of an Empiricist Criterion of Cognitive Significance,"
in The Logic of God -
Theology and Verification, edited by Malcolm L. Diamond
and Thomas V. Litzenburg, Jr., Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 1975,
481-524.
"A Defense of Abortion and
Infanticide," in The
Problem of Abortion, edited by Joel Feinberg, Wadsworth,
Belmont, CA, 1973, 51-91.
"Replies," Philosophy & Public
Affairs, 2/4, 1973, 419-32.
"Armstrong's Proof of the Realist
Account of Dispositional Properties," Australasian Journal of
Philosophy, 50/3, 1972, 283-7.
"Abortion and Infanticide," Philosophy & Public
Affairs, 2/1, 1972, 37-65, and reprinted, with a
postscript, in The Rights
and Wrongs of Abortion, edited by Marshall Cohen et al., Princeton
University Press, Princeton, 1973, 52-84.
Also reprinted, in full or in
part, in: Ethics in Perspective,
edited by Karsten Struhl and Paula Struhl, Random House, New
York, 1975; Ethics for Modern Life,
edited by Raziel Abelson and Marie-Louise Friquegnon, St
Martin's Press, New York, 1st edition, 1975, 2nd edition 1982,
and 3rd edition, 1987; Moral Problems in Medicine,
edited by Samuel Gorovitz et
al., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1976; Death and Society,
edited by James Carce and Arlene Dallery, Harcourt Brace, New
York, 1977; Values in Conflict,
edited by Burton Leiser, Macmillan, New York, 1981; Philosophy for Adults,
edited by Thomas Buford, University Press of America,
Washington, 1981; Morality and Moral
Controversies, edited by John Arthur, Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1st edition, 1981, 2nd edition,
1986; Applying Ethics, edited
by Vincent Barry, Wadsworth, Belmont, California, 1982; Ethics - Theory and
Practice, edited by Manuel Velasquez and Cynthia
Rostankowski, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1985; Issues in Moral Philosophy,
edited by Thomas Donaldson, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1986; Applied Ethics, edited
by Peter Singer, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986. Ethics, 2nd edition,
edited by Steven M. Cahn and Peter Markie, Oxford University
Press, Oxford, 2001. This
article has also been translated into Japanese, German, and
Portuguese.
"Does the Cosmological Argument
Entail the Ontological Argument?," Monist, 54/3, 1970,
416-26.
Critical
Notices and Longer Reviews
Review of John W.
Carroll's book, Laws of
Nature. The
Philosophical Review, 106, 1997, 119-21.
Review of Bas C. van
Fraassen's book, Laws and
Symmetry, The British
Journal of the Philosophy of Science, 46, 1995, 280-3.
Review of David Owens's
book, Causes and
Coincidences, The
Philosophical Review, 103/3, 1994, 546-9.
Review of Richard
Miller's book, Fact and
Method: Explanation,
Confirmation and Reality in the Natural and the Social Sciences,
The Review of Metaphysics,
45/2, 1991, 416-8.
Review of Evan Fales'
book, Causation and
Universals, Mind,
100, 1991, 385-8.
Review of D. M. Armstrong, edited
by R. J. Bogdan, Australasian
Journal of Philosophy, 64/1, 1986, 97-102.
Critical Notice of
Alvin Plantinga's book, The
Nature of Necessity, Australasian
Journal of Philosophy, 55/1, 1977, 91-102.
Critical Notice of
Eike-Henner W. Kluge's book, The Practice of Death, Canadian Journal of
Philosophy, 6/2, 1976, 339-57.
Review of A. C. Ewing's
book, Value and Reality: The Philosophical Case
for Theism, Philosophical
Review, 85/1, 1976, 115-21.
Review of Stuart
Brown's book, Do Religious
Claims Make Sense?, Philosophical
Review, 81/4, 1972, 501-5.
Brief
Reviews
Review
of Simon Blackburn's book,
Essays in Quasi-Realism, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 48,
1995, pp. 643-5.
John
Bishop's Natural Agency: An Essay on the Causal
Theory of Action, The
Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 45, No. 4, 1992, pp. 846-7.
David Wood's The Deconstruction of Time,
The Review of Metaphysics,
Vol. 45, No. 3, 1992, pp. 645-6.
Review of P. M. S.
Hacker's book, Appearance
and Reality: A Philosophical Investigation into Perception and
Perceptual Qualities, in The Review of Metaphysics,
43/1, 1989, 164-6.
UNIVERSITY AND PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE AND ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
Member of Promotion
Committee: Michael Huemer, 2010-11.
Member of Promotion
Committee: Carol Cleland, 2005-06.
Member of Promotion
Committee: Michael Huemer, 2004-05.
Member of Promotion
Committee: Luc Bovens, 2003-04.
Interim Head,
Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado at Boulder,
2002-03.
Vice Chancellor's
Advisory Committee, 2002.
Member of Promotion
Committee: David Boonin, 2001-02.
Chair of Promotion
Committee: Wes Morriston, 2000-01.
Director of Graduate
Studies in Philosophy, University of Colorado at Boulder,
1999-2001.
Member of the Boulder
Faculty Assembly, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1997-98.
Chair of Promotion
Committee: Steven Leeds, 1997-98.
Chair of the Graduate
Committee of the Arts and Humanities, University of Colorado at
Boulder, 1997-98.
Member of the Graduate
Committee of the Arts and Humanities, University of Colorado at
Boulder, 1996-98.
Chair of Promotion
Committee: Ann Davis, 1995-96.
Chair of Colloquium
Committee, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1994-98.
Member of Promotion
Committee: John Fisher, 1994-95.
Chair of Promotion and
Tenure Committee: Carol Cleland, 1992-93.
Head of Department,
Philosophy, University of Western Australia, 1985-88.
Moderator of the
Undergraduate Honors Program in Philosophy, University of Western
Australia, 1985-88.
Director of Graduate
Study, Philosophy, University of Western Australia, 1983-88.
Chairman of the School,
Philosophy, University of Western Australia, 1983-84.
Program Organizer for
the Annual Conference of the Australasian Association of
Philosophy, 1978.
Member of the Committee
Considering Possible Reorganization of the Research School of
Social Sciences, Australian National University, 1978.
Member of the
Scholarship Committee of the Research School of Social Sciences,
Australian National University, 1975-76.
Director of
Undergraduate Studies in Philosophy, Stanford University, 1969-71.
LECTURES, SEMINARS, DEBATES,
CONFERENCES, AND INTERVIEWS
“Abortion,"
Colorado
Summer Seminar, University of Colorado at Boulder, July, 2010.
Conference Panel Discussion,
“The Future of the Philosophy of Time,” The Future of the
Philosophy of Time Conference, Wake Forest University, North
Carolina, April, 2010.
“Presentism and
Truthmakers,” The Future of the Philosophy of Time Conference,
Wake Forest University, North Carolina, April. 2010.
Comments on Josh Mozersky’s
"Three Dimensionalism," American Philosophical Association,
Pacific Division, San Francisco, April, 2010.
Debate on the Existence of
God, with William Lane Craig of Biola University, at University
of North Carolina at Charlotte, March 24, 2010, and sponsored by
Ratio Christi.
“Does God Exist? The Evidential Argument
from Evil,” Texas Christian University, February 26, 2010
“The Moral Status of
Abortion: Some Unsound Arguments,” Texas Christian University,
February 25, 2010
“Voluntary Active
Euthanasia,” Texas Christian University, February 24, 2010
“What Is Wrong with the
World, and Who Is to Blame?” Think! Talk, University of Colorado at Boulder, February
2, 2010.
““Time, Truth, Actuality,
and Causation”, International Conference on “God and the Future”,
Theology Faculty of Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany,
September, 2009.
“The Probability that
God Exists”, TheoLogica Conference on “Formal Methods in the
Epistemology of Religion”, Leuven, Belgium, June, 2009.
“In Defense of Perdurantism," Colorado
Summer Seminar, July, 2009.
"Presentism and Truthmakers,"
American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meetings,
April, 2009.
"A Philosophical Journey,"
The John Dewey Lecture, American Philosophical Association,
Central Division, Chicago, February, 2009.
“How to Teach and Study
the History of Philosophy”, Colorado Summer Seminar, July, 2008.
“God and Evil”, Philosophy Talk radio
show, June, 2008, hosted by John Perry and Ken Taylor.
“Inductive Logic and the
Probability that God Exists”, 36th Annual Meeting of the Society
for Exact Philosophy, University of Wyoming, May, 2008.
Debate on the Existence of
God, with Peter Kreeft of Boston College, at Wheaton College,
Massachusetts, April, 2008, and sponsored by the Intercollegiate
Studies Institute.
“The Refutation of
McTaggart’s Argument,” Keynote address, University of West
Virginia, Department of Philosophy Conference “Time on Trial:
100 Years of McTaggart’s Argument against the Reality of Time,”
April, 2008.
“The Probability that God
Exists,” American Philosophical Association Pacific Division
Meeting, March, 2008.
“The Argument from Evil,”
Keynote address, Texas Tech University’s Second Annual Graduate
Student Philosophy Conference, March 7-8, 2008.
“The Moral Status of
Abortion: An Overview," Abortion Conference,
University of Colorado at Boulder, November, 2007.
“Metaphysics and Laws of
Nature: Reductionist versus Non-Reductionist Approaches”,
Colorado Summer Seminar, July, 2007.
“The Principle of
Phenomenal Conservatism”, Bled
Conference in Epistemology - 2007, Bled, Slovenia, May
27–June 2, 2007.
“The Mind-Body
Problem,” Think! Talk, University of Colorado, April, 2007.
“Against Freedom of
Thought and Freedom of Expression," Center for Values and Social
Policy, University of Colorado at Boulder, April, 2007.
Roundtable on Causation and
Responsibility, Mount Hood, Oregon, November, 2006.
"Evolution, Intelligent
Design, and Education," The Committee on the History and
Philosophy of Science Regional Science Conference on Darwinian
Evolution, Boulder, Colorado, April 2006.
Debate with Professor
Peter Van Inwagen of the University of Notre Dame on the topic
"Should We Believe in God?", Amherst College, March 2006.
"Perdurantism: A
Defense," The University of Nebraska, February 2006.
The Evans Memorial
Lecture, The University of Nebraska, February 2006.
Debate with Bill Jack
on "Evolution Versus Creationism," The Ridge Community Church,
Northglenn, Colorado, October 2005.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil," University of Kansas, September 2005.
"Abortion," University
of Kansas, September 2005.
"Michael Huemer's
Defense of Direct Realism," University of Washington, May 2005.
“The Evidential
Argument from Evil," Davidson College, April 2005.
"In Defense of
Perdurantism," Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference, University
of Idaho, April 2005.
"Presentism," American
Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meetings, March 2005.
"A New Form of Moral
Skepticism?," The First Russell Conference, Healdsburg,
California, March 2005.
Gail Stine Memorial
Lecture, Wayne State University, April 2004.
"Counterfactual
Analyses of Causation," American Philosophical Association,
Pacific Division Meetings, April 2004.
“The Evidential
Argument from Evil," University of Alberta at Edmonton, March
2004.
"The Stalnaker-Lewis
Approach to Counterfactuals," University of Calgary, March 2004.
“The Argument from Evil,"
West Virginia University, April 2003.
“Rethinking Time," West
Virginia University, April 2003.
“The Nature of Basic
Tensed Sentences," University of Iowa, April 2003.
E. W. Hall Lecture,
“Freedom of Thought and Expression," University of Iowa, April
2003.
Debate on with
Professor Hadley Arkes of the University of Massachusetts on
Abortion, Princeton Bioethics Conference, February 2003.
Four Debates with
Michael Horner on the Existence of God, Canadian Campus Crusade
for Christ: the
University of Guelph, McMaster University, University of Waterloo,
and the University of Western Ontario, January 2003.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil," California State University at Long Beach,
Odyssey Project, November 2002.
"Grünbaum on Time,"
Conference on Adolf Grünbaum, Santa Barbara City College, October
2002.
"Ethical Issues Raised
by Human Cloning," Chautauqua Community Forum, July 2002.
“An Evidential Argument
from Evil: The
Inductive Step," American Philosophical Association, Pacific
Division Meetings, March 2002.
"Causation and the
Stalnaker-Lewis Approach to Counterfactuals," Department of
Philosophy, Brown University, February 2002.
"Comments on Adolf
Grünbaum's 'The Poverty of Theistic Cosmology'." Eastern Division
Meeting, American Philosophical Association, December 2001.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil: The
Inductive Step," University of Miami, March 2001.
"Counterfactuals: The
Stalnaker/Lewis Approach," University of Miami, March 2001.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil: The
Inductive Step," Western Michigan University, November 2000.
"Counterfactuals: The
Stalnaker/Lewis Approach," Western Michigan University, November
2000.
"Comments on Stephen
Davis's Paper, 'The Limits of Apologetics: the Proofs'," Society of
Christian Philosophers - Mountain-Plains Regional Conference,
September 2000.
"Comments on Robin Le
Poidevin's Paper, 'Is Precedence a Secondary Quality?'," Central
Division Meeting, American Philosophical Association, April 2000.
"Are there any Sound
Arguments for Supernaturalism?" Conference on The Nature of
Nature, Baylor University, April 2000.
"Basis Rules and Direct
Realism," Pacific Division Meeting, American Philosophical
Association, April 2000.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil," University of Vermont, March 2000.
"The Stalnaker/Lewis
Approach to Counterfactuals," University of California at San
Diego, March 2000.
Debate with Professor
Keith Yandell of the University of Wisconsin on "God and Evil,"
Arapahoe Community College, Denver, Colorado, February 2000.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil," Biola University, Los Angeles, California,
February 2000.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil: The
Inductive Step," University of California at Riverside, February
2000.
"Comments on Ned Hall's
'Two Concepts of Causation'," Eastern Division Meeting, American
Philosophical Association, December 1999.
"Ethics and Critical
Thinking," Casey Middle School, Boulder, December 1999.
"The Metaphysics of
Time," Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University,
October 1999.
Lectures in Japan on a
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship:
1. "Basic Issues in the
Philosophy of Time, and Alternative Accounts," The University of
Tokyo, May 1999.
2. "A Causal Theory of the
Direction of Time," Nihon University, Japanese Philosophy of
Science Society, May 1999.
3. "Problems with Standard
Tensed Views of Time," The University of Tokyo, May 1999.
4. "The Moral Status of the
Cloning of Humans," the Japanese Association of Bioethics, June
1999.
5. "The Analysis of Tensed
Sentences," The University of Tokyo, June 1999.
6. "Future Contingents
and the Objections to Three-Valued Logic," Tokyo Metropolitan
University, June 1999.
7. "Is
Backward
Causation Logically Possible," Keio University, June, 1999.
"The Nature of Time: Philosophy,
Physics,
and Phenomenology. "
Center for the Humanities and Arts
"Rethinking Time" Series, University of Colorado at Boulder,
October 1999.
"The Analysis of
Knowledge," Pacific Division Meeting, American Philosophical
Association, April 1999.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil: The
Inductive Step," University of Edinburgh, February 1999.
"Bealer's Argument
against Functionalism," Wichita State University, October 1998.
Session on Time, Tense, and Causation,
Central Division Meeting, American Philosophical Association, May
1998: Response to
papers by Storrs McCall, Nathan Oaklander, and Quentin Smith.
"The Evidential
Argument from Evil: The
Inductive Step," Society of Christian Philosophers Intermountain
Meeting, April 1997.
"A Defense of Absolute
Simultaneity," Pacific Division Meeting, American Philosophical
Association, April 1996.
"An Alternative
Approach to the Nature of Time," The University of Toronto,
January 1996.
"Same Time, Same Place:
A Defense of Absolute Simultaneity," Committee on the History and
Philosophy of Science, University of Colorado, December 1995.
"God and Evil," 1995
Intermountain Regional Conference of The Society of Christian
Philosophers, March 1995.
Debate with William
Lane Craig on the Existence of God, University of Colorado at
Boulder, November 1994.
"Abortion and Critical
Thinking," University of Colorado at Boulder, April 1994.
"The Nature of Time,"
University of Colorado at Boulder, February 1992.
"Truth-functionality
and Three-valued Logic," annual meeting of the Australasian
Association of Philosophy, July 1991.
"A Defense of Tense,"
Department of Traditional and Modern Philosophy, The University of
Sydney, April 1990.
"A Defense of a
Singularist Conception of Causation," Philosophy Department,
Monash University, September 1989.
"Same Place, Same
Time," Philosophy Department, Melbourne University, September
1989.
"A Defense of a Tensed
View of Time," Philosophy Department, La Trobe University,
September 1989.
"Philosophical
Approaches to Ethical Issues in Health Care," Public Health
Association on Current Ethical Issues in Public Health, Princess
Margaret Hospital, Perth, March 1988.
"The Morality of
Abortion," Abortion Law Reform Association, Perth, November 1987.
"Australian Drug Laws,"
National Health and Medical Research Council Unit in Epidemiology
and Preventative Medicine, University of Western Australia,
October 1987.
"Laws of Nature and the
Empiricist Loyalty Test," Western Australian Society for the
History and Philosophy of Science, October 1986.
"Empiricism and Laws of
Nature," Alberta Tri-University Philosophy Conference, Banff,
Alberta, April 1986.
"Laws of Nature and the
Empiricist Loyalty Test," Philosophy Departments, University of
Guelph and University of Western Ontario, March 1986.
"Empiricism and Laws of
Nature," Philosophy Department, University of Toronto, March 1986.
"In Defense of the
Existence of States of Motion," Philosophy Department, Trent
University, February 1986.
"Epiphenomenalism,"
Presidential Address, Australasian Association of Philosophy,
1984.
"In Vitro
Fertilization," Public Lecture, University of Western Australia,
1983.
"Causation and Humean Supervenience,"
Conference of the Florida Chapter of the American Catholic
Philosophical Association, 1982.
"Singular Causation,"
Florida Philosophical Association Convention, 1981.
"Obligations Concerning
Possible Persons," Kansas Tri-University Philosophy Conference,
1981.
"Armstrong on the
Nature of Belief," Conference on Belief, University of Queensland,
1979.
"Propositions and
Beliefs," Philosophy Department, University of Adelaide, 1978.
"Abortion and
Infanticide," Philosophy Club, University of Adelaide, 1978.
"Semantics and
Ontology," Department of Traditional and Modern Philosophy,
University of Sydney, 1978.
"Propositions and the
Individuation of Beliefs," Philosophy Department, Monash
University, 1978.
"Abortion and
Infanticide," Philosophy and Public Issues Lecture Series, Monash
University, 1978.
"The Rights of
Children," Symposium on the Rights of Children, Monash University,
1978.
"The Nature of Laws,"
Philosophy Department, University of Utah, 1977.
"The Nature of Laws," a
Mahlon-Powell Lecture at the University of Indiana, 1977.
"The Nature of Nomic
Necessitation," Department of Traditional and Modern Philosophy,
University of Sydney, 1976.
"Moral Issues Involved
in Decisions to Terminate Life," a series of lectures at the
Council for Philosophical Studies' Institute on Moral Problems in
Medicine, 1974.
"Death and the Concept
of a Person," Symposium on Medical Ethics, Brown University, 1974.
"Reply to Professor
Devine," Eastern Division Meetings of the American Philosophical
Association, 1973.
"Knowledge of Other
Minds and the Argument from Analogy," Philosophy Department, Simon
Fraser University, 1973.
"Ethics and the Concept
of a Person," Philosophy Department, California State University
at Hayward, 1973.
"The Question of
Abortion," Philosophy Forum, Los Angeles City College, 1972.
"Abortion and
Infanticide," Philosophy Colloquium, University of California at
Los Angeles, 1972.