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Curriculum Vitae
Alexander R. Pruss
April, 2007
Department of Philosophy
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057
Born January 5, 1973. Canadian citizen and permanent U.S. resident. Married. Two children.
American Philosophical Association
Society of Christian Philosophers
Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, August, 2001
Dissertation title: Possible Worlds: What They Are Good For and What They Are, advised by Nicholas Rescher
Ph.D., Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Spring, 1996
Dissertation title: Symmetrization, Green’s Functions, Harmonic Measures and Difference Equations, advised by John J. F. Fournier
B.Sc. (hon.), Mathematics and Physics, University of Western Ontario, Spring, 1991
starting fall 2006: Associate Professor (tenured), Department of Philosophy, Georgetown University
2001-2006: Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Department of Philosophy, Georgetown University
2003-present: Faculty in Residence to the Culture and Performance Living and Learning Community
Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Applied Ethics
Philosophy of Science, Ancient Philosophy, Aquinas, Leibniz, Kierkegaard, Logic
Junior Faculty Fellowship (Fall 2005)
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend (2002)
Georgetown Summer Academic Grant (2002, 2003 and 2006)
Living and Learning Community Advisor of the Year Award from Georgetown University Residence Life (2006; the Culture and Performance community that I advised itself received a Community of the Year Award)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Graduate Fellowship (1997–2000)
Fellowship to attend week-long workshop on the historical Jesus, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California (2000; nominated by Society of Christian Philosophers)
Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship (1996–1997)
The Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Predoctoral Fellowship (1995–1996)
First Prize in Judaic Seminar’s Purim Essay Contest (1994)
W. Reymont Foundation Scholarship (1991–1992)
Mackenzie King Open Scholarship (1991; one awarded in all of Canada; declined)
The “1967” National Sciences and Engineering Research Council Graduate Scholarship (1991–1995)
Alexander R. Pruss, The Principle of Sufficient Reason: A Reassessment, Cambridge University Press, 2006
Richard M. Gale and Alexander R. Pruss (eds.), The Existence of God, with 30,000 word introduction, International Research Library of Philosophy, Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2003
“How not
to reconcile the creation of human beings with evolution”, Philosophia
Christi, forthcoming
“Toner
on judgment and eternalism”, Faith and Philosophy, forthcoming
“Conjunctions, disjunctions and Lewisian semantics for counterfactuals”, Synthese, forthcoming
“Prophecy without middle knowledge”, Faith and Philosophy, forthcoming
“Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit: Arguments new and old for the Principle of Sufficient Reason”, in: J. Campbell, M. O’Rourke and H. Silverstein (eds.), Explanation and Causation: Topics in Contemporary Philosophy, forthcoming
“A restricted Principle of Sufficient Reason and the Cosmological Argument”, Religious Studies 40 (2004) 165–179
“David Lewis’s counterfactual arrow of time”, Noûs 37 (2003) 606–637
“A new free will defense”, Religious Studies 39 (2003) 211–233
“Post’s critiques of omniscience and of talk of ‘all true propositions’”, Philo 6 (2003) 49–58 (special issue in honor of Richard M. Gale)
“Not out of lust but in accordance with truth: Theological and philosophical reflections on sexuality and reality”, Logos 6 (2003) 51–80
with Richard M. Gale, “A response to Almeida and Judisch”, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 53 (2003) 65–72
“Christian faith and belief”, Faith and Philosophy 19 (2002) 291–303
“Śaṃkara’s principle and two ontomystical arguments”, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 49 (2001) 111–120
“The cardinality objection to David Lewis’s modal realism”, Philosophical Studies 104 (2001) 167–176
“Christian sexual ethics and teleological organicity”, The Thomist 64 (2000) 71–100
with Richard M. Gale, “A new cosmological argument”, Religious Studies 35 (1999) 461–476; reprinted in Richard M. Gale and Alexander R. Pruss (eds.), The Existence of God
“Professor Lucas’ second epistemic way”, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 45 (1999) 189–194
“Lying and speaking your interlocutor’s language”, The Thomist 63 (1999) 439–453
“Leibniz’s approach to individuation and Strawson’s criticisms”, Studia Leibnitiana 30 (1998) 116–123
“The Hume-Edwards Principle and the Cosmological Argument”, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 43 (1998) 149–165; reprinted in Richard M. Gale and Alexander R. Pruss (eds.), The Existence of God
“Complicity,
fetal tissue, and vaccines”, National
Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 6 (2006) 461–470
“Ultimate explanations”, Contemporary Pragmatism 2 (2005) 35–48
with Richard M. Gale, “Cosmological and teleological arguments”, in: William J. Wainwright (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005
“The actual and the possible”, in: Richard M. Gale (ed.), Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, pp. 317–333
“Fine and coarse tuning, normalizability and probabilistic reasoning”, Philosophia Christi 7 (2005) 405–424
“Cooperation with past evil and use of cell-lines derived from aborted fetuses”, Linacre Quarterly 71 (2004) 335–350; to be reprinted in: Helen Watt (ed.), Cooperation, Complicity and Conscience: Problems in Healthcare, Science, Law and Public Policy, London: Linacre Center
with Richard M. Gale, “A Response to Oppy and to Davey and Clifton”, Religious Studies 38 (2002) 89–99
“I was once a fetus: That is why abortion is wrong”, Life and Learning 12 (2002) 169–182
Review of Why there is Something rather than Nothing by Bede Rundle, Philosophia Christi, forthcoming
Review of Thomas Aquinas’s Trinitarian Theology: A Study in Trinitarian Method by Timothy L. Smith, Speculum, 2005
Review of Nature and Understanding: The Metaphysics and Method of Science by Nicholas Rescher, Review of Metaphysics, 2002
Review of Other Times: Philosophical Perspectives on Past, Present and Future by David Cockburn, Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review 39 (2000) 199–202
with Richard M. Gale, Review of Atheism & Theism by J.J.C. Smart and J. Haldane, Faith and Philosophy 16 (1999) 106–113
Actualities, Possibilities and Worlds. Manuscript requiring minor revisions. Prospectus sent to publisher for review
Time and Causation, rough draft of most of book manuscript
One Body, received contract from University of Notre Dame Press. Rough draft of almost 100% of the material
“Mistaken Conscience and Failed Actions”, invited paper for John Haldane’s anthology of analytic Thomist ethics
“Double effect in recent philosophy” (working title), American Maritain Association, satellite meeting at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Washington, December, 2006
“A defense of the B-theory against the intranslatability and emotional attitude arguments”, Philosophy of Time Society satellite meeting at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Washington, December, 2006
“Materialism and Pelagianism”, Society of Christian Philosophers, satellite meeting at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Washington, November, 2006
“Defending the cosmological argument”, National Faculty Leadership Conference, Alexandria, VA, June, 2006
“Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit: Arguments new and old for the Principle of Sufficient Reason”, invited symposium presentation at the Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago, April, 2006
“Time,
tense and language: A defense of the B-theory”, University of Delaware, April,
2006
“How
not to reconcile evolution and creation”, University of Notre Dame, March, 2006
“Conjunctions, disjunctions and Lewisian semantics for counterfactuals”, Logic and Linguistics Group, Georgetown University, February, 2006
“Why isn’t altruism abnormal? Contemporary cosmological and teleological arguments for the existence of God, and the evolution of altruism”, Harvard Divinity School, December, 2005
“The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum of 1599”, Joy in the Truth conference, University of Notre Dame, September, 2005
“Western Theism and Evolution”, short paper presented to start discussion at the Philosophers in Jesuit Education satellite meeting at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago, Boston, January, 2005
“The cosmos as a work of art”, presented at the Epiphanies of Beauty conference, University of Notre Dame, November, 2004
“Cooperation with past evil and use of cell-lines derived from aborted fetuses”, presented at the Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University Hospital, spring 2004
“On three problems of divine simplicity”, presented at the Society of Christian Philosophers satellite session at the American Catholic Philosophical Association annual meeting, October, 2003
“Love, deontology, and double effect”, presented at the Formation and Renewal conference, University of Notre Dame, October, 2003
“Eight tempting big-picture errors in ethics”, presented at the Life and Learning conference, Georgetown University, May, 2003
“Fine and coarse tuning, renormalizability and probabilistic reasoning”, workshop on fine-tuning, University of Notre Dame, April, 2003
Invited commentator, conference in honor of Richard M. Gale, University of Pittsburgh, April 5, 2003
“Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit: Arguments new and old for the Principle of Sufficient Reason”, presented at the satellite session on analytic philosophy at the American Catholic Philosophical Association annual meeting, Cincinnati, November, 2002, and in variant form at the Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference, University of Idaho and Washington State University, May 2-4, 2003
“Maternal love and abortion”, presented at the “From Death to Life: Agendas for Reform” conference at Notre Dame University, September 28, 2002
“I was once a fetus”, presented at the Life and Learning conference, Ann Arbor, May 31, 2002
“A new free will defense”, presented at the Central Division Meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers, March 8, 2002
“The counterfactual arrow of time”, presented at the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, February 1, 2002
“Faith, paradox, reason and the argumentum Spiritus Sancti in Climacus and Kierkegaard”, presented at the meeting of the Søren Kierkegaard Society at the Central APA Conference, 2001
“The meaning of sexual love”, presented at the interdisciplinary “Conversations with the Other” graduate student conference, Duquesne University, March 24, 2001
On faculty and curriculum committee for “Ethics, Mind and Nature in the Analytic and Thomistic Traditions” week-long summer graduate seminar, Witherspoon Institute, Princeton, NJ, August, 2006
Guest lecture on Principle of Sufficient Reason, graduate philosophy of religion course, Rutgers University, December, 2005
Presentation on free will to Philosophy and Faith lecture series, Georgetown University, Fall, 2004
“Ethics mis-understood”, presented to DFE foreign service fraternity, September, 2004
apologetics workshop for American University pro-life student group, April, 2004
“Eight tempting big-picture errors in ethics”, presented at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference, Georgetown University, January, 2004
presentation on relativism and ethics at high school, Port Angeles, WA, May 2003
“Religion and the Limits of Science”, presentation at high school, Port Angeles, WA, May, 2003
apologetics workshop for Georgetown University Right to Life student group, April, 2002
with Robert Clifton, Kevin Davey and Richard M. Gale, debate on “A new cosmological argument” (Gale and Pruss, 1999), in front of Philosophy Honor Society, University of Pittsburgh, March, 2001
“A general Hsu-Robbins-Erdős type estimate of tail probabilities of sums of independent identically distributed random variables”, Periodica Mathematica Hungarica 46 (2003) 181–201
“Discrete harmonic measure, Green’s functions and symmetrization: A unified probabilistic approach”, Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska (Sectio A) 55 (2001) 139–174
with Stephen J. Montgomery-Smith, “A comparison inequality for sums of independent random variables”, Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications 254 (2001) 35–42
with Dominik Szynal, “On the central limit theorem for negatively correlated random variables with negatively correlated squares”, Stochastic Processes and Their Applications 87 (2000) 299–309
“Symmetrization inequalities for difference equations on graphs”, Advances in Applied Mathematics 22 (1999) 338–370
“A remark on the Moser-Aubin inequality for radially symmetric functions on the sphere”, Canadian Mathematical Bulletin 42 (1999) 478–485
“Radial rearrangement, harmonic measures and extensions of Beurling's shove theorem”, Arkiv för Matematik 37 (1999) 183–210
“A bounded N-tuplewise independent and identically distributed counterexample to the CLT”, Probability Theory and Related Fields 111 (1998) 323–332
“Discrete convolution-rearrangement inequalities and the Faber-Krahn inequality on regular trees”, Duke Mathematical Journal 91 (1998) 463–514
“A maximal inequality for sums of exchangeable random variables”, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 126 (1998) 1811–1819
“Steiner symmetry, horizontal convexity and some Dirichlet problems”, Indiana University Mathematics Journal 46 (1997) 863–895
“A two-sided estimate in the Hsu-Robbins-Erdős law of large numbers”, Stochastic Processes and their Applications 70 (1997) 173–180
“Comparisons between tail probabilities of sums of independent symmetric random variables”, Annales de l’Institut Henri Poincaré – Probabilités & Statistiques 33 (1997) 651–671
“One-dimensional random walks, decreasing rearrangements and discrete Steiner symmetrization”, Annales de l’Institut Henri Poincaré – Probabilités & Statistiques 33 (1997) 83–112
“On Spataru’s extension of the Hsu-Robbins-Erdös law of large numbers”, Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications 199 (1996) 558–576
“Remarks on summability of series formed from deviation probabilities of sums of independent identically distributed random variables”, Ukraïns´kii Matematichnii Zhurnal 48 (1996) 569–572; reprinted in: Ukrainian Mathematical Journal 48 (1996) 631–635
“Three counterexamples for a question concerning Green’s functions and circular symmetrization”, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 124 (1996) 1755–1761
“Randomly sampled Riemann sums and complete convergence in the law of large numbers for a case without identical distribution”, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 124 (1996) 919–929
with Alec Matheson, “Properties of extremal functions for some nonlinear functionals on Dirichlet spaces”, Transactions of the American Mathematical Society 348 (1996) 2901–2930
“Nonexistence of maxima for perturbations of some inequalities with critical growth”, Canadian Mathematical Bulletin 39 (1996) 227–237
“A remark on non-existence of an algebra norm for the algebra of continuous functions on a topological space admitting an unbounded continuous function”, Studia Mathematica 116 (1995) 295–297
“Symmetrization, Green's Functions, harmonic measures and difference equations”, Dissertation Summaries in Mathematics 1 (1996) 67–74
with Zvi Margaliot and Patrick D. Surry, “Finding Optimal Steiner Trees”, Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics and Its Applications 12 (3), Fall 1991, 265–278
“A star goes down the cosmic drain or what happens when a star falls down a black hole”, Astronomy London (Ontario), 23 (3), March 1991, 13–15
“Shanks’ transform and series improvement”, Mathematical Mayhem 2 (4), June 1990
“Spherical trigonometry”, Mathematical Mayhem 1 (4), June 1989
“Artificial Intelligence in politics”, Youth Science News 8 (3), May–June 1988, 19–20
“Artificial Intelligence in politics”, Physics in Canada 45 (2), March 1989, 66–67
“Some new results on tail probabilities of sums of independent identically distributed random variables”, seminar, Institute of Mathematics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland, May, 1999
“Symmetrization, Green’s functions, harmonic measures and difference equations”, doctoral thesis defense, University of British Columbia, April 1, 1996
“Inequalities for tail probabilities of sums of independent random variables”, Probability Seminar, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, February 5, 1996
“Radial rearrangement, Beurling's shove theorem and the Chang-Marshall inequality”, invited Complex Analysis Seminar, Mathematics Department, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, October 3, 1995
“Discrete symmetrization, harmonic measure and the Faber-Krahn inequality on trees”, informal seminar, Mathematics Department, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, October 2, 1995
“From the Pólya-Szegö symmetrization inequality for Dirichlet integrals to comparison theorems for p.d.e.'s on manifolds”, 8th International Symposium on Classical Analysis, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, September 18-24, 1995
“Extremals of nonlinear functionals on the unit ball of Dirichlet space, symmetrization theory and drunkards in dangerous blind alleys”, invited seminar, Institute of Mathematics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland, September 7, 1995
“Rates of convergence in the law of large numbers and randomly sampled Riemann sums”, invited seminar, Institute of Mathematics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland, September 7, 1995
“Nonexistence of maxima for perturbations of some inequalities with critical growth”, Fourth International Conference on Function Spaces, Zielona Góra, Poland, August 28–September 1, 1995
“Extremals for some non-linear functionals on unit balls of Dirichlet spaces”, International Conference on Approximation Theory and Function Series, Budapest, Hungary, August 21-25, 1995
“Extremals of nonlinear functionals on the ball of the Dirichlet space, some conjectures concerning least harmonic majorants, and symmetrization”, invited Complex Analysis Seminar, Department of Mathematics, University of Washington, Seattle, January 10, 1995
with Alec Matheson, “Extremal functions for some nonlinear functionals on the Dirichlet space”, Analysis Seminar, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, July 26, 1994
with Alec Matheson, “Some questions on a nonlinear functional on the Dirichlet space”, Conference on the Interaction Between Functional Analysis, Harmonic Analysis, and Probability, Columbia, Missouri, May 30–June 3, 1994
“Convergence of randomly sampled Riemann sums to the Lebesgue integral”, Function Spaces Conference, Edwardsville, Illinois, May 23–28, 1994
“Randomly sampled Riemann sums and complete convergence”, Probability Seminar, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, May 4, 1994
with Zvi Margaliot and Patrick D. Surry, “Network optimization”, Mathematical Contest in Modeling Minisymposium, Second International Conference on Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Washington, D.C., July 12, 1991
with Patrick J. Mann, “Relativistic smoothed particle hydrodynamics,” Applied Mathematics Lecture Series, Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, January 1991
Possible Worlds: What They Are and What They Are Good For
Nicholas Rescher (chair), University Professor of Philosophy
John Earman (second reader), Professor of History and Philosophy of Science
Robert Brandom, Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy
Kenneth Manders, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Modality and causality (graduate)
Metaphysics proseminar (graduate)
Plato
Augustine and Aquinas on the Trinity
Introduction to Philosophy
Philosophy of Love and Sex
Leibniz and Spinoza
Introduction to Ethics
History of Ancient Philosophy
Philosophy of Religion (undergraduate and graduate)
Third Semester Calculus
Second Semester Calculus
Faculty in Residence connected to the Culture and Performance Living and Learning Community (2003–07)
On selection panel for 2003 and 2004 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend Programs
Refereed book manuscripts for Cambridge University Press and Blackwell
Refereed papers for British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Dialectica, Erkenntnis, Faith and Philosophy, Noûs, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies, University of Pittsburgh Philosophy Graduate Student Conference, Canadian Mathematical Journal, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, Discrete Mathematics, Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, and Mathematische Zeitschriften
Wrote about a dozen reviews for Mathematical Reviews
Guest researcher at the Institute of Mathematics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland (one week in 1999, and two weeks in 1995)
Research in the interaction of stars and black holes, supervised by Professor Patrick J. Mann, Departments of Astronomy and Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario (Summer, 1989 and 1990)
Research in solid state quantum physics, supervised by Professors M. G. Cottam and M. R. Singh, Department of Physics, University of Western Ontario (Summer, 1988)
English (dominant and fluent), Polish (fluent), French (reading; passed language requirement exams in philosophy and mathematics), Russian (reading), Classical Hebrew (reading with dictionary), Greek (Koinê, and Classical, mainly Aristotle; reading with dictionary), Classical Syriac/Aramaic (rudimentary reading with dictionary and reference works), Ugaritic (rudimentary reading with dictionary and reference works)