Brandon Rickabaugh Philosopher of Mind

I'm Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Research Scholar of Public Philosophy at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida.

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I also serve as the Franz Brentano Fellow at the Martin Institute.

My main curiosity: What is it that fundamentally unifies us? 

 

To explore this issue, I develop projects focused on understanding what the nature of consciousness reveals about: 

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            Self   What are we?  

Knowledge   How do we know reality?

    Meaning   What makes for a flourishing life?

Technology   How can developing technology help or harm us?

           God    Can we know that God exist and how God relates to us?

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I also love robots and Indian food.

Download Vitae
 

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Education

PhD, Philosophy

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Baylor University - 2020

Dissertation: The Conscious Mind Unified

     

       *Awarded Outstanding Dissertation of the Year

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Co-Directors: Timothy O'Connor & Alexander Pruss

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Committee: C. Stephen Evans, Todd Buras, and

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                    neuroscientist Charles Weaver III

MA, Philosophy

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Baylor University - 2018

MA, Philosophy of Religion & Ethics

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Biola University - 2013

BA, Philosophy

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University of California, Irvine - 2010 

 

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Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

 

2021

  • “Living Accountably: Accountability as a Virtue.” With C. Stephen Evans. International Philosophical Quarterly.

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2019

  • “Alister McGrath’s Anti-Mind-Body Dualism: Neuroscientific and Philosophical Quandaries for Christian Physicalism.” Trinity Journal. [download]

 

2018

  • “The Primacy of the Mental: From Russellian Monism to Substance Dualism.” Philosophia Christi. [download]

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  • “Intentionality Contra Physicalism: On the Mind’s Independence from the Body.” With Dallas Willard. Philosophia Christi.

       [download]

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  • “The Sanctifying Work of the Holy Spirit: Revisiting Alston’s Interpersonal Model.” With Steve Porter. The Journal of Analytic Theology. [download]

 

  • “Responding to N. T. Wright’s Rejection of the Soul.” Heythrop Journal. [download]

 

2017

  • “The Argument from Reason, and Mental Causal Drainage: A Reply to van Inwagen.” With Todd Buras. Philosophia Christi.[download]

 

  • “Natural Theology, Evidence, and Epistemic Humility.” With Trent Dougherty. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion.

        [download]

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2016

  • “Who You Could Have Known: Divine Hiddenness, Epistemic Counterfactuals, and the Recalcitrant Nature of Natural Theology.” With Derek McAllister. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. [download]

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2015

  • “What Does it Mean to Be a Bodily Soul?” With C. Stephen Evans. Philosophia Christi. [download]

 

2013

  • “Eternal Life as Knowledge of God: An Epistemology of Knowledge by Acquaintance and Spiritual Formation.” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care. [download]

Book Chapters

2021

  • “Virtue Formation and The Sanctifying Work of the Holy Spirit.” With Steven L. Porter. Faith and Virtue Formation. Oxford University Press.

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2018

  • “Against Emergent Dualism.” The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism. Wiley Blackwell. [download]

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  • “Dismantling Bodily Resurrection Arguments Against Mind-Body Dualism.” Christian Physicalism? Rowman & Littlefield.

       [download]

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  • “Neuroscience, Spiritual Formation, and Bodily Souls: A Critique of Christian Physicalism.” With C. Stephen Evans. Christian Physicalism? Rowman & Littlefield. [download]

Work in Progress

Books

  • What is Consciousness? An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind. 

  • Substance Dualism: A New Defense. Co-Author J. P. Moreland.

  • The Conscious Person Unified: On Subjects of Phenomenal Unity

 

Journal Articles

  • “Enduring Problems for Biological Animalism.” Status: R&R.

  • “Scattered No More: Phenomenal Consciousness and the Foundations of Epistemic Justification.” 
     

 

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Positions Held

Fellowships​

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow 

    • Accountability as a Relational Virtue. Baylor University, 2020-2021.

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  • Graduate Research Fellow 

    • SCP Science Cross-Training (neuroscience). John Tempelton Foundation, 2018-2019.

Teaching Positions​

  • Baylor University

    • Teacher of Record, 2018-2020.

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  • Azusa Pacific University

    • Adjunct Instructor of Philosophy, 2013-2015. 

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  • Biola University

    • Adjunct Instructor of Philosophy, 2014-2015.

 

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Public Facing Philosophy

Articles​

  • "The Practice of Discernment: Ignatian Help During a Modern Pandemic." [link]

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  • "COVID-19 and a Christian Epistemology of the Heart."

 

 

Podcasts​

  • The Importance of the Philosophy of Mind for the Philosophy of Religion [link]

  • Unity of Phenomenal Consciousness Arguments Against Physicalism [link]

  • Unity of Consciousness Arguments Against Panpsychism & Emergentism [link]

  • Substance Dualism & Bodily Souls [link]​​

Audio Lectures​​

  • Consciousness and Cosmic Fine-Tuning [link]
  • Seeking Darkly: Divine Hiddenness and the Hidden Self [link]
  • Dismantling Bodily Resurrection Objections to Mind-Body Dualism [link]
  • Naturalism and the Mental Problem of Causal Drainage: Filling a Gap in the Argument from Reason [link]
 

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Research Archives

The Dualism Archive [link] Coming Soon

The Argument from Consciousness to Theism [link]

Divine Hiddenness [link]

Philosophy & Christian Spiritual Formation [link]

Philosophy of Technology & Culture [link] Coming Soon