CURRICULUM VITAE
Timothy Joel McGrew
Education:
Ph.D. in Philosophy, 1992
M.A. in Philosophy, 1991
B.A. in Philosophy (summa cum laude), 1988
Professional Employment:
Fall 2009 to present: Professor, Department
of Philosophy, Western Michigan University
Fall 2005 to Summer 2009: Professor and
Chairman, Department of Philosophy, Western Michigan University
Fall 1999 to Fall 2005: Associate Prof. of
Philosophy, Western Michigan University
Fall 1995 to Fall 1999: Assistant Prof. of Philosophy,
Fall 1992 to Spring 1995: Assistant Prof. of
Philosophy,
Areas of Specialization:
Epistemology: foundationalism; internalist and
externalist theories of epistemic justification; theories of rationality; a
priori knowledge; objectivity and relativism; formal and performative
self-refutation; perceptual knowledge and the given; metaepistemology
Philosophy of Science: models of explanation; simplicity;
probability, falsifiability and rational theory choice; history of science and
rational reconstruction; logic, realism and contemporary physics; the
mathematics and philosophy of cosmological fine-tuning
Probability Theory: induction and statistical inference; Bayesian
confirmation theory; probabilistic models of explanatory reasoning
History of Science: physics in Islam in the middle ages;
astronomy and dynamics from Aristotle through Newton; particles, waves and the
development of optics (1660-1850); the fall of the ether theory and the advent
of relativity
Other Areas of Competence:
History of Modern Philosophy: Descartes and the rationalist revolt
against scholasticism; the way of ideas; the British empiricists and the
revolution in science; controversies regarding innate ideas; the deist
controversy in the 18th century
Logic and Philosophy of Logic: history of logic; logical syntax and formal
semantics; type theory and logical paradoxes; non-Tarskian semantics and
limited self-reference; deviant logics; analyticity; theories of truth; philosophical
interpretations of modal and quasi-modal logics
Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind: freedom and determinism; dualism and the
mind/body problem; functionalism and AI; causality, teleology and the existence
of God; universals and abstract entities; nominalism, essentialism and
quantified modal logic; antirealism and the nature of truth
Professional
Publications:
Work in Progress
“The Reliability of Witnesses
and Testimony to the Miraculous,” forthcoming in Jake Chandler and Victoria
Harrison, eds., Probability in the
Philosophy of Religion (
Books
Philosophy of Science: An Historical
Anthology. Co-edited with Marc Alspector-Kelly and Fritz Allhoff.
Blackwell, 2009
Internalism and Epistemology: The
Architecture of Reason. With
Lydia McGrew. Routledge, 2007.
The Foundations of Knowledge. Littlefield Adams Books, 1995.
Articles
“Evidence,” in Sven Bernecker and Duncan Pritchard, eds., The Routledge Companion to Epistemology,
2011, pp. 58-67.
“Miracles” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
October 11, 2010.
“The Argument from Miracles: A Cumulative Case for the Resurrection of
Jesus of Nazareth.” With Lydia McGrew. In William Lane Craig and J.P. Moreland,
eds. Blackwell Companion to Natural
Theology, 2009.
“Foundationalism,
Probability, and Mutual Support” With
“On the
Historical Argument: A Rejoinder to Plantinga,” With
“A Response to Robin Collins and Alexander
R. Pruss.” With Lydia McGrew. Philosophia
Christi 7 (2005): 425-43
“Toward a Rational Reconstruction of Design
Inferences.” Philosophia Christi 7 (2005): 253-98.
“Has Plantinga Refuted the Historical Argument?” Philosophia Christi 6 (2004): 7-26.
“Confirmation, Heuristics, and Explanatory Reasoning.” British Journal for the Philosophy of
Science 54 (2003): 553-67.
“Probabilities and the Fine Tuning Argument: A Sceptical View.” With
“Direct Inference and the Problem of Induction.” The Monist 84
(2001): 153-74. An expanded version of this paper is anthologized in Henry
Kyburg and Mariam Thalos, eds., Probability is the Very Guide of Life: The
Philosophical Uses of Chance. Open Court, 2003.
“What’s Wrong with Epistemic Circularity.” With
“Foundationalism, Transitivity and Confirmation.” With
“How Foundationalists do Crossword Puzzles.” Philosophical Studies
96 (1999): 333-50.
“Psychology for Armchair Philosophers.” With
“A Defense of Classical Foundationalism.” In Louis Pojman, The
Theory of Knowledge: Classical and Contemporary
“The Simulation of Expertise: Deeper Blue and the Riddle of Human
Cognition.” Origins and Design 19 (Summer 1998).
“Internalism and the Collapse of the Gettier Problem.” With
“Physics in Islam.” In Helaine Selin, ed., The Encyclopaedia of the
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures.
Kluwer Academic Publications, 1997.
“Collaborative Intelligence.” Internet Computing, May/June 1997.
“Level Connections in Epistemology.” With
“The Two Envelope Paradox Resolved.” With Harry Silverstein and David
Shier. Analysis 57 (1997): 28-33.
“Two Cheers for Bayes’s Theorem.” Analysis 55 (1995).
“A Postscript to Kuhn.” The Electronic Journal of Analytic
Philosophy, May 1994.
“Unraveling Innate Ideas.” History of Philosophy Quarterly, July
1992.
“The Missing Link: Aquinas and Kant Revisited.” Dialogue,
October 1987.
Reviews
“Review of Robert Fogelin, A Defense of Hume on Miracles.” Mind 114 (2005):145-149.
“Review of Albert Casullo, A Priori Justification.” International Philosophical Quarterly 44 (2004): 441-442.
“Review of Richard Swinburne, Epistemic Justification.”
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
2002.
“Review of Michael Huemer, Skepticism and the Veil of Perception.”
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
(2002).
“Review of Dean Overman, A Case Against Accident and
Self-Organization.” Philosophia Christi (1999): 154-6.
“Review of The Philosophy of W. V. Quine.” Dialogue,
April 1988.
Professional
Presentations:
“New Atheists, Old Atheists, and Old
Apologists.” Presented at the Evangelical Philosophical Association meeting,
New Orleans, LA, November 20, 2009.
“The Reliability of Witnesses and Testimony
to the Miraculous.” With Lydia McGrew. Presented at Formal Methods in the
Epistemology of Religion, Leuven, Belgium, June 11, 2009.
“Hume’s Argument Against Miracles: Then and
Now.” Hope College, October 3, 2006
“Scholarship as a
Vocation,” Hope College, October 3, 2006
“Jeffrey Conditioning as a Model of Synchronic Mutual Support
Relations.” With Lydia McGrew. Presented at the Formal Epistemology Workshop,
Berkeley, CA, May, 2006.
“Fine-tuning and Normalizability.” Presented at the APA Central
Division Meeting, April, 2006, Chicago, IL.
“Has Plantinga Refuted the Historical Argument?” Plenary address
presented by invitation to the Pacific Division meeting of the Society of
Christian Philosophers, Los Angeles, CA, February 28, 2004.
“Infinity and Continuity in Ancient and Medieval Thought.” Presented by
invitation to the History of Mathematics Colloquium, Department of Mathematics,
“On the Rational Reconstruction of the Fine-Tuning Argument.” Presented
at the Notre Dame Workshop on the Mathematics and Philosophy of Cosmic
Fine-Tuning, April 25, 2003.
“Sherlock Holmes: Mathematician.” Presented by invitation to the WMU
chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national math honor society, March 21, 2003.
“Confirmation, Heuristics, and Explanatory Reasoning.” Presented by
invitation as the Sievert Lecture to the Department of Philosophy at the
“Palaces of the Mind: the Art of Memory in the Middle Ages.” Presented
by invitation to the Honors Program at
“A Sensible World: the Critical Tradition in Medieval Science.”
Presented by invitation to the Honors Program at
“Toward a Rational Reconstruction of Design Inferences.” Presented at the
Models of Design symposium at
“The Logic of Design Inferences.” Presented by invitation at
“Who's Afraid of the Problem of Induction?” Presented by invitation at
“Normalizability and Anthropic Coincidences.” With Eric Vestrup.
Presented at the Notre Dame Colloquium on Cosmic Fine-Tuning, July 22, 2000.
“Probabilities and the Fine-Tuning Argument.” With Eric Vestrup.
Presented at the conference on Design and its Critics at
“Probability Theory and the New Paradox of the Lottery.” Comments on
Evan Fales, “The Fix is In (You can bet on it): A Lottery Paradox.” Presented
at the meeting of the Central States Philosophical Association, October 17,
1998.
“Knowledge and Aesthetic Truth.” Presented to the faculty of
“In Defense of Dualism.” Presented at the Midwestern Metaphysics
Meeting, Notre Dame, August 1997.
“How Foundationalists Do Crossword Puzzles.” Invited lecture at
“Deviant Logics and Quantum Theory.” Presented at the
“
“How Not to Save Scientific Realism.” Comments on Mohammed Elsamahi,
“Can Scientific Entities Save Realism?” Presented at the 44th annual Northwest
Conference on Philosophy, November 6, 1992.
“Conceptual Analysis and the Definition of Knowledge.” Comments on Rudy
Garns, “Epistemology and the Concept of Knowledge.” Presented at the annual
Southern Society for Philosophy meeting, March 14, 1992.
“Scientific Progress, Relativism and Self-Refutation.” Presented at the
1991 conference of the Tennessee Philosophical Association, November 16, 1991.
“Authorial Intention and Interpretive Autonomy.” Presented at the
“On
“On the Logic of Theoretical Inquiry.” Presented at the Phi Sigma
Tau Philosophy Forum of the
“Aquinas and Kant: A Quest for Unity.” Presented at the 1986 conference
of the Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association at
Other
Professional Activities:
Journal Reviewing: ongoing journal referee for several respected
journals including British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Dialogue
(
Manuscript Reviewing: by invitation, referee of book manuscripts in
epistemology and philosophy of science for several publishers including
Blackwell, Broadview, Cambridge University Press, Mayfield, and
Other University
Activities:
Chairman of the Department of Philosophy, July 2005 to present.
Graduate program recruitment, 2001 to present.
Director of Graduate Studies, 2002 to Winter 2005.
College Curriculum Committee, Fall 1998 to Winter 2002.
Thesis Director, Tony Givhan, Spring 2000. (Thesis completed and
defended on time.)
Thesis Director, Marshall Willman, 1999. (Thesis completed and defended
on time.)
Thesis Director, Richard Van Every, 1997. (Thesis completed and
defended on time.)
Philosophy Graduate Advisor, Fall 1997 to present.
Medallion Scholarship Competition judge, Spring 1997.
Honors and
Awards:
ASTRA recipient, 2000-1, 2001-2, 2002-3, 2003-4.
Dean’s Appreciation Award,
Administrative Merit Award,
Administrative Merit Award,
Franklin J. Matchette Award for Excellence in Teaching,
International Center for Semiotic and Cognitive Studies Grant to attend
the International Conference on Willard V. O. Quine’s Contribution to Philosophy,
Republic of San Marino, May 21-26, 1990.
University Graduate Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, 1988-1992.
University Award for Excellence in Philosophy, University of
Alpha Sigma Nu
(National Jesuit Honor Society), elected October, 1986.
Phi Sigma Tau
(National Philosophy Honor Society), elected May, 1986; president,