I’m an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). Previously, I was a Research Fellow in the School of Philosophy at Australian National University.
I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and my BA in philosophy at Kansas State University.
My primary research is in epistemology. I’m currently working on a monograph on epistemic permissivism, tentatively titled Breaking Epistemic Ties: A Defense of Permissivism. Epistemic permissivism is the view that the evidence can rationally permit more than one attitude toward a proposition. (For more info on the book, see the bottom of my research page.) I’m also interested in belief and credence; I defend dualism, the view that belief and credence are mutually irreducible. My interests in epistemology also include the nature of evidence and evidentialism, (arguing against) pragmatic and moral encroachment, (defending) doxastic voluntarism, and other issues in social epistemology (e.g. disagreement, epistemic paternalism).
My secondary research interests are in philosophy of mind, specifically the nature of belief, and philosophy of religion, specifically Pascal’s Wager and the nature of faith. I have further interest in decision theory, ethics and normativity, and metaphysics. See here for a long-form interview (with Richard Marshall’s 3:16 series) that summarizes my research for a non-specialist audience.
My non-philosophical interests include sports (especially basketball), traveling, avocados, coffee, weight lifting, cooking, and podcasts.
Recent Talks & Events
2023
May 31, 2023: “Faith is Positive: Faith, Desire, and the Axiology of Theism,” Symposium on Axiology and Philosophy of Religion (Canadian Philosophical Association, York University) (Handout) (Video)
June 1, 2023: Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Christian Philosophers (Canadian Philosophical Association, York University)
June 27–29, 2023: 2023 Veritas Scholars Summit, Park City, Utah
September 13-14, 2023: “Epistemic Ties and How to Break Them” (Workshop on Intellectual Humility, Rationality, and Self Doubt, University of Leeds, Virtual) (Handout) (Video)
September 28-October 1, 2023: Comments on Eyob Zewdie, “Faith and Quasi-Fideism” (45th Annual Meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers, Calvin University) (Handout)
November 10-11, 2023: “Faith, Voluntary and Rational” (Capstone Conference, LATAM Bridges in The Epistemology of Religion, University of Houston) (Handout) (Video)
2024
March 4, 2024: “Can Atheists Have Faith?” (M. Holmes Hartshorne Lecture, Colgate University) (Handout) (Video)
March 6, 2024: “Can Atheists Have Faith?” (Public Lecture, SUNY Brockport) (Handout) (Video)
March 20-23, 2024: Pacific APA (Portland, OR)
April 9, 2024: “The Psychological Case for Doxastic Voluntarism” (with Mark Boespflug) (Princeton University, online) (Slides)
June 4-6, 2024: God and Value Theory Workshop (Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON)
June 18-20, 2024: Commenter-at-large (Evidentialism at 40 conference, University of New Brunswick)
July 8–13, 2024: Summer Seminar on the Psychology of Faith (University of St. Thomas, Minnesota)
August 1–8, 2024: “Faith, Voluntary and Rational” (Session on Religious Epistemology, World Congress of Philosophy, Rome, Italy)
November 2024: TBD (Colloquium Talk, Purdue University)
2025 and later
March 13-14, 2025: TBD (University of New Brunswick)
Spring 2025: Meeting of Division 36 of the American Psychological Association
June 8-14, 2025: Summer Seminar on the Psychology of Faith (University of St. Thomas, Minnesota)
Contact
Toronto Metropolitan University, Department of Philosophy
350 Victoria Street
Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada