Alexander Pruss

Alexander Robert Pruss (born January 5, 1973) is a Canadian mathematician, philosopher, Professor of Philosophy and the Co-Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Alexander Pruss
Born (1973-01-05) January 5, 1973
Alma materUniversity of Western Ontario
University of British Columbia
University of Pittsburgh
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolAnalytic philosophy
InstitutionsBaylor University
ThesisPossible Worlds: What They Are Good For and What They Are (2001)
Doctoral advisorNicholas Rescher
Main interests
Metaphysics, philosophy of religion, applied ethics
Notable ideas
Gale–Pruss cosmological argument

His best known book is The Principle of Sufficient Reason: A Reassessment (2006).[1][2][3] He is also the author of the books, Actuality, Possibility and Worlds (2011), and One Body: An Essay in Christian Sexual Ethics (2012), and a number of academic papers on religion and theology.[4] He maintains his own philosophy blog and contributed to the Prosblogion philosophy of religion blog.

Biography

Pruss graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Physics. After earning a Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of British Columbia in 1996 and publishing several papers in Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society and other mathematical journals,[4] he began graduate work in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his dissertation, Possible Worlds: What They Are and What They Are Good For, under Nicholas Rescher in 2001.

Pruss began teaching philosophy at Georgetown University in 2001, earning tenure in 2006. In 2007, he moved to Waco, Texas to teach philosophy at Baylor University. He is now the Director of Graduate Studies for the Baylor Philosophy Department. He has taught various courses, including graduate seminars on the philosophy of time, metaphysics, the cosmological and ontological arguments for the existence of God, modality, free will, and history of philosophy.[5]

Work

Pruss's philosophical thought reflects Christian orthodoxy. He is a Roman Catholic and a member of the Society of Christian Philosophers.

Pruss defends the principle of sufficient reason (PSR), claiming that it is self-evident, and arguing that the rejection of PSR creates problems in epistemology, modality, ethics, and even evolutionary theory.[6]

Pruss is a critic of David Lewis's "extreme modal realism," and instead gives "a combined account" of Leibnizian and Aristotelian modality, which integrates the "this-worldly capacities" of the Aristotelian view and Leibniz's account of possible worlds as thoughts in the mind of God.[7]

Bibliography

See also

Notes
  1. Review by Joshua C Thurow, Religious Studies Review, 33, no. 3 (2007): 222-223
  2. Review, by D Rickles Philosophy In Review, 27, no. 5, (2007): 370-372
  3. Review by D Werther, Faith and philosophy : journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers. 27, no. 1, (2010): 94-97
  4. WorldCat author listing
  5. Pruss, Curriculum Vitae
  6. Pruss, "Leibnizian Cosmological Arguments"
  7. Pruss, "The Actual and the Possible"

References
  • Pruss, Alexander. Curriculum Vitae Accessed March 2013.
  • Pruss, Alexander. "Leibnizian Cosmological Arguments" in Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology, Oxford: Blackwell, 2009
  • Pruss, Alexander. "The Actual and the Possible" In Richard M. Gale (ed.), Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.
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