Evan M. Fales
Department of Philosophy
The University of Iowa
264 English-Philosophy Building
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1408
Phone: (319) 335-0023
Fax: (319) 353-2322
Education
B. A. Haverford College, 1964, Physics
M. A. Temple University, 1971, Philosophy
Ph.D. Temple University, 1974, Philosophy
Teaching
Physics Teacher, Scattergood School, West Branch, Iowa, 1967-69
Assistant Professor, University of Iowa, 1974-79
Associate Professor, University of Iowa, 1979-present
Honors and Awards
University Fellowship, Temple University, 1969-70, 1973-74
Old Gold Summer Fellowship, University of Iowa, 1978, 1981
Interdisciplinary Research Grant, Obermann Center, University of Iowa, 1987
Developmental Leave Assignment, Obermann Center, Univ. of Iowa, 2000
DISSERTATIONS DIRECTED
Gary Weaver, "Reasons, Actions, and Explanations," 1980 (co-director)
Prajit Basu, "Scientific Explanation in the History of Chemistry:The Priestly-Lavoisier Debate", 1992 (co-director)
Soonok Choi, "A Critical Discussion of Bonjour's Coherence Theory
of Empirical Knowledge", 1992
John Beaudion, "The Cumulative Approach to Natural Theology," 1997
Kenneth Williford, “The Structure of Self-Consciousness: A Phenomenological and Philosophical Investigation,” 2003 (co-director)
David Schenk, “Our Knowledge of Time: Tense, Indexicals, and the Phenomenology of Time,” 2003
Wendy Scholz, “The Phenomenology of Movement: Action, Proprioception, and Embodied Knowledge,” 2010
Patrick Monaghan, Property Possession as Identity: An Essay in Metaphysics"
Amber Griffioen, “The Irrational Project: Toward a Different Understanding of Self-Deception,” 2010 (co-director)
Publications
Articles
"Definite Descriptions as Designators," Mind, April, 1976, 225-238.
"Donnellan on Definite Descriptions," with Joseph Margolis, Philosophia,
June, 1976, 289-302.
"Truth, Tradition, and Rationality," Philosophy of the Social Sciences,
June, 1976, 97-113.
"The Ontology of Social Roles," Philosophy of the Social Sciences, June,
1977, 139-161, to be reprinted in Microsociology: A Book of Readings,
Jacek Szmatka, ed., PWN--Polish Scientific Publishers, forthcoming.
"Theoretical Simplicity and Defeasibility," Philosophy of Science, June,
1978, 273-288.
"Opacity in the Attitudes," Canadian Journal of Philosophy, December, 1978, 725-752.
"Relative Essentialism," The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, December, 1979, 349-370.
"Uniqueness and Historical Laws," Philosophy of Science, June, 1980, 260-276.
"Must Sociology be Qualitative?," and "Reply to Professor Brown,"
Qualitative Sociology, invited paper, Summer, 1982, 89-105, 145-146.
"Natural Kinds and Freaks of Nature," Philosophy of Science, March, 1982, 67-90.
"Generic Universals," The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, March, 1982, 29-39.
"Davidson's Compatibilism," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, December, 1984, 227-246.
"Causation and Induction," Midwest Studies in Philosophy, invited paper, Vol. IX, 1984, 113-134.
"Essentialism and the Elementary Constituents of Matter," Midwest Studies in Philosophy, invited paper, Vol. XI, 1986, 391-402.
"How to be a Metaphysical Realist," Midwest Studies in Philosophy, invited paper, Vol. XII, 1988, 253-274.
"Antediluvian Theodicy: Stump on the Fall," Faith and Philosophy, 6, 1989, 320-329.
"Should God Have Not Created Adam?," Faith and Philosophy, 9, 1992, 193-209.
"Causal Knowledge: What Can Psychology Teach Philosophers?," with Edward A. Wasserman, The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 13, 1992, 1-28.
"Are Causal Laws Contingent?" in Ontology, Causality, and Mind: Essays in Honour of D.M. Armstrong, Keith Campbell, John Bacon, and Lloyd Reinhardt, eds., Cambridge University Press, 1993.
"Are Christians Obliged to Be Pacifists?" Faith and Philosophy,
11, 1994, 298-301.
"Divine Freedom and the Choice of a World," International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 35, April, 1994, 65-88.
"Plantinga's Case Against Naturalistic Epistemology," Philosophy of Science, 63, 1996, 432-451.
"Mystical Experience as Evidence," International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 40, 1996, 19-46.
"Scientific Explanations of Mystical Experience, Part I: The Case of St. Teresa," Religious Studies, 32, 1996, 143-163.
"Scientific Explanations of Mystical Experience, Part II: The Challenge to Theism," Religious Studies, 32, 1996, 297-313.
"Divine Intervention," Faith and Philosophy 14, 1997, 170-194.
"Social Action at a Distance? Evaluating Heterodox Theories," with
Barry Markovsky, Social Forces 76. 1997. 511-525.
" Darwin's Doubt, Calvin's Calvary," in James Beilby, ed., Naturalism Defeated? Essays on Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism, ( Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002), 43-58.
"Do Mystics See God?," in Michael L. Peterson, ed., Contemporary
Debates in the Philosophy of Religion (Blackwell, 2003).
"Are the Gods Apolitical?," Philo, 2, 1999, 21-31.
"Book symposium, Douglas Geivett and Gary Habermas, In Defense of Miracles," Philosophia Christi, 3 (2001), 7-35.
“Reformed Epistemology and Biblical Hermeneutics,” Philo 4 (2001), 169-184. Reprinted in Jeffrey J. Lowder and Robert Price, eds., Jesus is Dead ( Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books), forthcoming.
"Critical Discussion of Alvin Plantinga's Warranted Christian Belief,"
NOUS 37 (2003), 353-370.
“Taming the Tehom: The Sign of Jonah in Matthew,” in Jeffrey J. Lowder and Robert Price, eds., Jesus is Dead ( Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books), forthcoming.
“Proper Basicality,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research LXVIII (2004), forthcoming
“Does Reformed Epistemology Escape Cartesian Skepticism?,” Soochow Journal of Philosophical Studies 11, forthcoming.
“Naturalism and Physicalism” in the Michael Martin, ed., Cambridge Companion to Atheism (invited), (Cambridge University Press, 2007): 118-134.
“Despair, Optimism, and Rebellion,” http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/evan_fales/despair.html, 2005, also published in Robert B. Stewart, ed., The Future of Atheism: Alister McGrath and Daniel Dennett in Dialogue (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2008): 97-112.
“Animadversions on Kitzmiller v. Dover: Right Ruling, Wrong Reasons,” http://www.sc.maricopa.edu/sbscience/pests/essays/fales.pdf, Jan. 2006.
“The Spiritual Brain: Intimations of God or Hallucinations?,” invited paper for Christoph Jaeger, ed., Brain Science and the Phenomenology of Religious Experience (New York: Springer, forthcoming.)
“The Road to Damascus,” Faith and Philosophy 22 (2005), 442-459.
“Reply to Stephen Davis’ review of The Empty Tomb in Philosophia Christi 8.1 “The Counterattack of the Resurrection Skeptics: A Review Article,” http://theemptytomb.googlepages.com/.
"Satanic Verses: Moral Chaos in Holy Writ,” “Reply to Alvin Plantinga,” and “Comment on Christopher Seitz” in Divine Evil? The Moral Character of the God of Abraham, Michael Bergmann, Michael Murray, and Michael Rea, eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
“It is Not Reasonable to Believe in Miracles,” in Chad Meister, J.P. Moreland, and Khaldoun Sweis, eds., Debating Christian Theism (Oxford: Oxford University Press), forthcoming.
“Naturalistic Ethical Realism,” invited chapter for Keith Loftin, ed., God and Morality: Four Views. (Intervarsity Press), forthcoming.
Books
Causation and Universals, Routledge, (1990).
Genes and Human Self-Knowledge, co-edited with Robert Weir and Susan Lawrence, University of Iowa Press, (1994).
A Defense of the Given, Rowman and Littlefield, (1996).
Divine Intervention; Metaphysical and Epistemological Puzzles, Routledge (2010).
Work In Progress
“The Road to Damascus,” invited paper for special edition of Faith and Philosophy on the evidential value of religious experience
"Nothing But the Best: Being the God of Grace and Playing God"
“Naturalism/Physicalism” in the Michael Martin, ed., Cambridge Companion to Atheism (invited)
“God on the Brain: Do Neurons Detect the Numinous?,” invited paper for Christoph Jaeger, ed., Brain Science and the Phenomenology of Religious Experience
“Riches of the Atheistic Life,” invited paper for a Symposium on “God, Death, and the Meaning of Life,” to be presented at the Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, April, 2005
A book, Reading Sacred Texts: An Anthropological Approach to Matthew
“A Law Requires a Lawgiver,” under submission
“Is Middle Knowledge Possible? Almost” under submission
“Did All That Stuff Happen? Did Any of It? The Question of Myth,” invited paper for Logos workshop on philosophy of religion, 2011.
“The Mother of All A-theodicies,’ invited paper for an anthology, “A Companion to the Problem of Evil,” Justin McBrayer and Daniel Howard-Snyder, eds. (Wiley-Blackwell).
“Is a Science of the Supernatural Possible?,” invited paper for an anthology, “Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem,” Massimo Pigliucci and Maarten Boudry, eds. (Chicago University Press).
