About Me

I’m a philosopher at USC. I work on a lot of different topics. I started out in metaphysics, logic, and philosophy of science. Nowadays I do a lot of work in formal epistemology, decision theory, and ethics. I’m also very interested in philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of religion.

I am the Director of Graduate Studies for the USC School of Philosophy.

Photo by Ken Lund [CC BY-SA 2.0] https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenlund/21399701568

Teaching

I regularly teach Probability and Rational Choice (PHIL 258g), which is about living with uncertainty, making choices, and working together, using tools from philosophy, psychology, math, and economics.

I also regularly teach The Limits of Logic (PHIL 450), which is about the limits of what can be said, proven, calculated, or counted. We study deep human discoveries about the infinite and the indescribable. If you’ve taken intro logic (or suitable courses in math, computer science, or linguistics) and you’re interested in taking 450, contact me. (The official prerequisite can be waived.)

I’ve been working on a textbook for this class. Here’s a draft.

I also teach graduate seminars and undergraduate classes in metaphysics, epistemology, decision theory, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, and philosophy of math.

Fall 2023

Past Courses

'Stars & Stripes Celebration, POLA' by Joey Z1 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. https://www.flickr.com/photos/45958601@N02/34930860564

Placement

Here are a few things I put together during my time as placement director for USC philosophy. USC Philosophy has a strong track record of helping our PhD students find jobs.

Here are some places philosophy jobs are posted. (If you know of other good places to look that aren’t listed here, please let me know!)

By Tuxyso (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Contact Me

University of Southern California, School of Philosophy

Office Hours: on research leave Fall 2024