JOSHUA C. THUROW ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND CLASSICS ONE UTSA CIRCLE SAN ANTONIO, TX 78249 TEL (608) 279-8935 WEB EMAIL joshua.thurow@utsa.edu EDUCATION Ph.D. Philosophy 2007 University of Wisconsin - Madison M.A. Philosophy 2004 University of Wisconsin - Madison B.S. Philosophy 1999 University of Wisconsin - Madison Astronomy/Physics AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion AREAS OF COMPETENCE Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Science, History of Modern Philosophy, Ethics, Metaethics DISSERTATION The A Priori: A Defense via Explanation (Defended 5/2007) Keith Yandell (Chair), Alan Sidelle, Juan Comesana, Russ Shafer-Landau ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT Associate Professor of Philosophy, The University of Texas at San Antonio, August 2016 - Present Visiting Research Professor of Philosophy, Center for Philosophy of Religion, University of Notre Dame, August 2014 - May 2015. Assistant Professor of Philosophy, The University of Texas at San Antonio, August 2012 - August 2016 Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Mount Marty College, August 2008 - August 2012 Visiting Assistant Professor, Augustana College, September 2007 August 2008 Lecturer, Marquette University, January May 2007 Lecturer and Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin Madison, August 2000 December 2006 AWARDS AND HONORS Member, by invitation, of research network of scholars for the Knowledge Beyond Natural Science project at Sterling University (Scotland). This is a three year project run by Crispin Wright, funded by the Templeton Foundation, the goal of which is to study self-knowledge and a priori knowledge and compare/relate the two. May 2017-May 2020.
Selected as a participant in the Interim State Writing Workshop, sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, the Immortality Project at UC-Riverside, St. Thomas University, and Northwest Nazarene University. July, 2015. Selection process was competitive. Received the James Award from Mount Marty College in 2011 an annual award to one faculty member for excellence in research and publication. Selected as a participant in the Purdue Summer Seminar on Perceptual, Moral, and Religious Skepticism at Purdue University, June 2011. Selection process was competitive. $5,000 stipend. Selected as a participant in the St. Thomas Summer Seminar in Philosophy of Religion, June 2011. Selection process was competitive. I turned down this offer because it conflicted with the Purdue Seminar. Selected as a participant in the Cognition, Religion, and Theology Project Summer Workshop, Oxford University, August 10 22, 2009. Selection process was competitive. Participants attended talks and developed a research proposal, which was then considered for a research grant. Selected as a lecturer for the Young Philosophers Lecture Series, March 2008. Selects scholars who have received their Ph.D. within the last 6 years. Selection process is competitive. Lecturers give a research talk and a public talk. Talks are podcasted. Graduate Travel Stipend Award for The a Priori Defended: A Defense of the Generality Argument, American Philosophical Association, Central Division, April 2007 Vilas Travel Fellowship, University of Wisconsin Madison, Fall 2005 Nominated by the Philosophy Department for a dissertation fellowship from the University of Wisconsin Madison Graduate School, Spring 2005 and Spring 2006. Only 3 students of the approximately 25 dissertators in the department are nominated each year. BOOK The A Priori in Philosophy, ed. Albert Casullo and Joshua C. Thurow (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). This is a collection of all-new essays on the a priori and its role in philosophy. I wrote the introduction and contributed an essay. ARTICLES, REFEREED 11) Animals With Soul, Sophia (forthcoming). 10) Finding Collective Sin and Recompense in Anselm s Cur Deus Homo, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 91.3 (2017): 431-446. 9) Atoning in Purgatory, Religious Studies 53.2 (2017): 217-237. 8) Communal Substitutionary Atonement, Journal of Analytic Theology 3 (2015): 47-69. 7) On Counterfactuals of Libertarian Freedom: Is There Anything I Would Have Done if I Could Have Done Otherwise?, coauthored with Paul Anders and Ken Hochstetter, American Philosophical Quarterly 51:1 (2014): 85-94. 6) Moral Intuitionism Defeated?, coauthored with Nathan Ballantyne, American Philosophical Quarterly 50.4 (2013): 411-21. PAGE 2
5) Does Cognitive Science Show Belief in God to be Irrational? The Epistemic Consequences of the Cognitive Science of Religion, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 74.1 (2013): 77-98. 4) The Defeater Version of Benacerraf s Problem for a Priori Knowledge, Synthese 190.9 (2013): 1587-1603. 3) Does Religious Disagreement Actually Aid the Case for Theism? in Probability in the Philosophy of Religion, ed. Jake Chandler and Victoria S. Harrison (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012): 209-224. 2) The A Priori Defended: A Defense of the Generality Argument Philosophical Studies 146.2 (2009): 273-289. 1) Experientially Defeasible A Priori Justification The Philosophical Quarterly 56.225 (2006): 596-602. ARTICLES, REFEREED INVITATIONS 5) Atonement, (with Jada Strabbing) in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (forthcoming). 4) Some Reflections on Cognitive Science, Doubt, and Religious Belief in The Roots of Religion, ed. Justin Barrett and Roger Trigg (Farnham, England: Ashgate Press, 2014). 3) Does the Scientific Study of Religion Cast Doubt on Theistic Belief? in Challenges to Moral and Religious Belief, ed. Michael Bergmann and Patrick Kain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014). 2) The Implicit Conception and Intuition Theory of the A Priori, with Implications for Experimental Philosophy, in The A Priori in Philosophy, ed. Joshua C. Thurow and Albert Casullo (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). 1) Religion, Religion, and Tolerance, in Religion, Intolerance, and Conflict: A Scientific and Conceptual Investigation, ed. S. Clarke, R. Powell and J. Savulescu (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). BOOK REVIEWS AND REFERENCE ENTRIES 14) Book review of Adam Green, The Social Contexts of Intellectual Virtue, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, July 5, 2017. 13) Book review of Helen De Cruz and Johan De Smedt, A Natural History of Natural Theology, Faith and Philosophy 33.3 (2016): 370-4. 12) cognitive science of religion entry in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd ed., Robert Audi (ed.) (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015): 173-5. 11) Book review of J.L. Schellenberg, Evolutionary Religion, International Journal for the Study of Skepticism 6.4 (2016): 418-21. 10) Book review of Miles Hollingworth, Saint Augustine of Hippo: An Intellectual Biography, The Classical Journal February 7, 2015. 9) Book review of William A. Lauinger, Well-Being and Theism, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, March 7, 2013. 8) Book review of Jesse Bering, The Belief Instinct, European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 5.3 (2013): 320-6. PAGE 3
7) Book review of C. Stephen Evans, Natural Signs and Knowledge of God, Faith and Philosophy 30.2 (2013): 221-4. 6) Book review of Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier, eds. The Improbability of God, Religious Studies Review 36.2 (2010): 128. 5) Book review of Stephen T. Davis, Christian Philosophical Theology, Faith and Philosophy 25.1 (2008): 113-116. 4) Book review of Alexander R. Pruss, The Principle of Sufficient Reason: A Reassessment, Religious Studies Review 33.3 (2007): 222-3. 3) Book review of Bede Rundle, Why there is Something rather than Nothing, Religious Studies Review 33.1 (2007): 35-6. 2) Book review of Andrew Dole and Andrew Chignell, eds. God and the Ethics of Belief, Religious Studies Review 32.4 (2006): 248. 1) Book review of Christopher Peacocke, The Realm of Reason, Philosophia Christi 8.1 (2006): 169-172. ARTICLES, REFEREED - ASTRONOMY 2) The Kinematics of the Ionized Gas in IC 10 The Astronomical Journal 129:745-767, 2005 February, coauthored with Eric M. Wilcots 1) WIYN Integral Field Unit Study of the Kinematics of the Ionized Gas in NGC 4214 The Astrophysical Journal 555: 758-774, 2001 July, coauthored with Eric M. Wilcots PAPERS GIVEN, INVITATIONS 13) Understanding to the Rescue 2nd annual TEX (Texas Epistemology Extravaganza) Workshop, New Braunfels, TX, April 2016 12) Understanding to the Rescue Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, February 2016 11) Grounding Moral Knowledge in Understanding Prindle Institute Research Retreat on Moral Epistemology, DePauw University, July 2015 10) Some Reflections on Cognitive Science, Doubt, and Religious Belief 8th Annual Philosophy of Religion Conference, Baylor University, February 2013 9) Does the Scientific Study of Religion Cast Doubt on Belief in God? Martineau Lecture, University of Tasmania, Australia, October 2012 8) Intuitionism Defeated? co-authored with Nathan Ballantyne The University of Texas at San Antonio, February 2012 7) How Valuable is Truth? or, Is Truth Just a Trinket? 2nd Annual USD Philosophy Conference, University of South Dakota, April 2011 6) The Cognitive Science of Religion and the Rationality of Theistic Belief South Dakota Philosophy Conference, Augustana College, October 2010 5) The Argument from Desire: A Case Study on the Impact of CSR on Theistic Arguments Merton College, Oxford University, UK, June 2010 4) A New Theory of the a Priori PAGE 4
University of South Alabama, January 2008 3) The a Priori: A Defense via Explanation University of St. Andrews, Scotland, March 2007 2) The Defeater Version of Benacerraf s Problem for a Priori Knowledge Valparaiso University, February 2007 1) Some Comments on Christopher Brown s Paper on Aquinas s View of the Nature of Persons and the Doctrine of the Resurrection International Conference on Persons, University of Memphis, 2003. PAPERS GIVEN, REFEREED 24) He Died for our Sins (in a Contextually-Sensitive Way) 2016 Midwest SCP meeting, Evangel University, Springfield, MO, September 2016. 23) Atoning in Purgatory Interim State Workshop, sponsored by The Immortality Project (UC-Riverside), McCall, Idaho, July 2015 22) Animals with Soul 2014 Eastern SCP Meeting, Niagara University, November 2014 21) Communal Substitutionary Atonement 2014 Logos Workshop on The Atonement, Notre Dame, May 2014 20) Lewis s Argument from Desire and the Cognitive Science of Religion 3rd Annual Houston Baptist University Philosophy Conference, HBU, March 2013 19) Intuitionism Defeated? co-authored with Nathan Ballantyne Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Seattle, 2012 18) ICIng on the Cake: A Theory of the a Priori, with Implications for Experimental Philosophy Experimental Philosophy and its Critics, Conference, Mississippi Philosophical Association, University of Mississippi, October 2011. 16 & 17) Against Counterfactuals of Libertarian Freedom There is Nothing I Would have Done if I Could Have Done Otherwise, co-authored with Paul Anders Central States Philosophical Association, St. Louis, September 2011. Central Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago, 2012. 15) Does Cognitive Science of Religion Cast Doubt on Religious Belief? European Society for the Study of Science and Theology Conference, Is Religion Natural? University of Edinburgh, UK, April 2010 13 & 14) Does Cognitive Science Show Belief in God to be Irrational? The Epistemic Consequences of the Cognitive Science of Religion The Concept of God and the Cognitive Science of Religion Conference, University of Birmingham, UK, June 2009 Pacific Meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers, Fort Lewis College, October 2009 12) Does Religious Disagreement Actually Aid the Case for Theism? Disagreement Trailblazing for the Miraculous Formal Methods in the Epistemology of Religion Conference, University of Leuven, Belgium, June 2009 11) A New Theory of the A Priori (New Version) PAGE 5
New Directions in Epistemology, annual symposium of the Canadian Society for Epistemology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, November 2008 10) The A Priori Defended: A Defense of the Generality Argument (New Version) Young Philosophers Lecture Series, State University of New York at Fredonia, April 2008 8 & 9) The A Priori Defended: A Defense of the Generality Argument American Philosophical Association, Central Division Meeting, Chicago, 2007. Rochester Graduate Student Epistemology Conference, University of Rochester, 2006. 7) Universalism and Frozen Worlds Metaphysics Without Apology: Themes from the work of E.J. Lowe, SUNY Buffalo, 2006. 6) Fallible A Priori Justification and Semantic Theories of the A Priori Third Annual University of Miami Graduate Student Conference in Epistemology, Florida, 2006. 5) Knowing God A Priori Conference in Honor of Keith E. Yandell, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2005. 4) The Testability of Theism The Eastern Regional Meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers, Cumberland College, Kentucky, 2004. 3) The Skeptical Argument from Moral Explanations and the A Priori The Wisconsin Philosophical Association Annual Meeting, Marquette University, 2004. 2) Time, Incarnation, and the Nature of Persons International Conference on Persons, University of Memphis, 2003. 1) The Fine-Tuning Design Argument and the Epistemology of Observation University of Illinois 25th Graduate Student Philosophy Conference, Urbana-Champaign, 2003. PAPERS GIVEN, NON-REFEREED 3) Atoning in Purgatory Center for Philosophy of Religion Discussion Group, Notre Dame, February 2015. 2) Are You Satisfied? By Me? By Us? Center for Philosophy of Religion Discussion Group, Notre Dame, November 2014. 1) Disagreement, Debunking, and Desiderata Purdue Summer Seminar on Perceptual, Moral, and Religious Skepticism, Purdue University, June 2011. POPULAR LEVEL TALKS AND GUEST LECTURES Religion and Science: Friends, Foes, or Strangers? Noon Forum, Mount Marty College, November 2010 Philosophical Approaches to Scientific Reasoning Mount Marty College, October 2010 What is this thing called morality and did we make it up? Young Philosophers Lecture Series, State University of New York at Fredonia, April 2008 Over twenty 30-minute introductory talks on astronomy given at State parks across Wisconsin PAGE 6
Universe in the Park outreach program, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2000-2007 GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS [Research] Received a UTSA INTRA grant to fund work on a book manuscript Project Title: You Just Believe That Because : The Epistemology and Ethics of Debunking Grant Period: Summer 2018 Amount: $5,000 [Research] Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy of Religion, University of Notre Dame, August 2014 - May 2015. [Research] Received a Summer Stipend from the Analytic Theology Project at the University of Notre Dame. Project Title: The Relationship between Communal Atonement and Individual Redemption Grant Period: Summer, 2013 Amount: $5,000 [Research] Received a Summer Stipend from the Analytic Theology Project at the University of Notre Dame. Project Title: Community, Substitution, and Atonement Grant Period: Summer, 2012 Amount: $5,000 [Research] Won a one-year grant from the Cognition, Religion, and Theology Project at the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford for a research project. Project Title: The Argument from Desire: An Investigation of the Direct and Indirect Epistemic Consequences of Cognitive Science of Religion for Religious Belief Grant Period: October 1 2009 August 1 2010 Amount: 11,575 (~$19,000) TEACHING ACTIVITIES Undergraduate Teaching - Full Responsibility Introduction to Philosophy (UW Madison) Basic Philosophical Problems (UTSA) Philosophy of Human Nature (Marquette University, Mount Marty College) Knowledge and Values (Augustana College) Introduction to Logic (Mount Marty College) Critical Reasoning (Augustana College) Reason in Communication (UW Madison) PAGE 7
Critical Thinking in Ethics (Mount Marty College) Contemporary Moral Issues (UTSA) Philosophy in Everyday Life: Friendship, Love, Sex, Food, and God (Mount Marty College, UTSA) Classics of Western Thought - Hume, Kant, and Reid (Augustana College) History of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (Mount Marty College) History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy (Mount Marty College) Contemporary Analytic Philosophy (UTSA) Philosophical Ethics (Mount Marty College) Approaches to Knowledge and Reality (UTSA) Epistemology (Augustana College, Mount Marty College) Metaphysics: The Nature of Reality (Mount Marty College) Issues and Movements in 20th Century Philosophy: Personal Identity and Resurrection (UTSA) Issues and Movements in 20th Century Philosophy: Debunking Ethics and Religion? (UTSA) Religion and Science: Friends, Foes, or Strangers? (Mount Marty College) Philosophy of Religion (UTSA) Philosophy of Punishment (Independent study course, Mount Marty College) Political Philosophy (Independent study course, Mount Marty College) Christian Classics (UTSA) Introduction to Astronomy (UW Madison) Earth Science Astronomy I: Planets and the Solar System (Mount Marty College) Earth Science Astronomy II: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology (Mount Marty College) Graduate Teaching - Full Responsibility Disagreement and Debunking (UTSA) Epistemology Seminar (UTSA) Philosophical Writing (UTSA) Independent study on recent work in philosophy of religion (esp. problem of evil) (UTSA) Independent study on epistemic injustice Advising/Mentoring M.A. Thesis Advisor for Ahmed Shagroni, Gregory Vanwagenen, beginning Spring 2017 M.A. Thesis Co-advisor, Argon Gruber, 2015 GAR advising of all M.A. students (23 total), beginning August 2015 Mentor for 4 graduate students Member (not advisor) of 4 active M.A. thesis committees Committees Graduate Program Committee, UTSA Philosophy Dept., 2013-present PAGE 8
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Secretary of the General Faculty on the UTSA Faculty Senate, August 2016-Present. UTSA AIS revision ad hoc committee, 2016-17. Philosophy Department Service, UTSA, 2015-16: Faculty Review Advisory Committee, Faculty Merit Advisory Committee, Academic Policy and Curriculum Committee, Philosophy Program and Core Assessment Coordinator, Graduate Program Committee, GAR for MA program. Reviewed monograph proposal for University of California Press, November 2016. Reviewed proposal of a textbook for Broadview Press, December 2015. Reviewed proposal of an edited collection for Cambridge University Press, November 2015. Reviewed grant proposal for the Templeton Foundation - Unscientific Knowledge, Fall 2015. Commentator, 2015 Central APA Meeting, Donald Bungum, Testimonial Traditions and Religious Disagreement. Reviewed draft proposal of a monograph for Oxford University Press, July 2015. Reviewed draft proposal of an edited collection for Oxford University Press, January 2014. Organizer, 2014 Brackenridge Conference on Fideism, Faith, and Rationality, UTSA. Philosophy Department Service, UTSA, 2013-2014: SECC Area Champion, Faculty Advisory Committee, Merit Advisory Committee, Graduate Program Committee, Award Nomination Committee, Philosophy Program Assessment Committee, Philosophy Search Committee Graduate Council Representative, UTSA, 2013-2014, September 2015-May 2017 Philosophy Department Service, UTSA, 2012-2013: SECC Area Champion, Faculty Advisory Committee, Award Nomination Committee, Philosophy Program Assessment Committee. Commentator, Amy Seymour, Erasing or Covering Sin? BGND Philosophy of Religion Conference, San Antonio, TX, November 2012. Chair of session, Richard Sosis and Jordan Kiper, Religion is More than Belief, Challenges to Religious and Moral Belief: Disagreement and Evolution, Purdue University, September 2012. Organizer, 2nd Annual South Dakota Philosophy Convention, Augustana College, November 2011. Presented at a Faculty Development Session on Using Moodle, the course management system, Mount Marty College, January 2012. Member of Mission Effectiveness Committee, Mount Marty College, Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Chair, 2011 Central APA meeting, Gary Varner, Persons, Near-Persons, and the Merely Sentient in the Autonoetic Consciousness Paradigm. Served on search committees (3) for philosophy, religious studies, and physics positions, Mount Marty College. Member of Assessment Committee, Mount Marty College, Fall 2010 Spring 2012 Member of committee on Learning and Research for Mount Marty College s Higher Learning Commission accreditation review, Fall 2010 Spring 2012. Freshman Advisor, Mount Marty College, Fall 2009 Spring 2011. Served on the Core Curriculum Committee at Mount Marty College, 2008-2010. PAGE 9
Chair, 2008 Midwest Epistemology Workshop, University of Nebraska, Jonathan Weinberg, Regress-Stopping for Neopragmatists Chair, 2006 Central APA meeting, Marc Alspector-Kelly, Empiricism as Stance and Empiricism Naturalized. Referee for Mind, The Philosophical Quarterly, Synthese, Philosophia, Southern Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Studies, American Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Philosophical Research, Dialectica, Philosophical Psychology, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Journal of Analytic Theology, Ergo, Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies, Philosophy Compass, Erkenntnis, Theologica. Manuscript reviewer for Palgrave Macmillan, Oxford University Press, University of California Press. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Attended teaching workshop, Assigning Group Work, January 2017. Attended teaching workshop, How effective communication leads to effective teaching, April 2016. 2 week writing challenge, National Center for Faculty Development, November-December 2012. Tenure and Time Management Seminar, given by Kerry Ann Rockquemore, UTSA, November 2012. Took a Cengage Webinar on Motivating Students, October 2010. Attended a day-long teaching workshop taught by L. Dee Fink, director of the Instructional Development Program at the University of Oklahoma, August 2007. Participated in monthly Teaching Circle meetings at Augustana College, September 2007 May 2008. PAGE 10