Nelson

Mark T. Nelson

Positions held

2024-2025 to today Collaborator(s),
2012-2013 Invited researcher(s),
2019-2020 Invited researcher(s),

Biography

Dr. Nelson grew up near Chicago, graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in philosophy, and earned a master’s degree and doctorate in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Before coming to Westmont in 2006, he taught at the University of Leeds in England. He studies ethics, epistemology and the philosophy of religion. His many publications include: “What the Utilitarian Cannot Think,” “Ethical Theory and Moral Practice,” “Non-contradiction: Oh Yeah and So What,” “Think,” and “Y and Z are not off the Hook: the Survival Lottery made Fairer.”

CURRENT POSITION

Kenneth Monroe Endowed Professorship
Department of Philosophy
Westmont College
Santa Barbara, CA
93108-1099 USA
Phone: +(805) 565-6259
Email: manelson@westmont.edu

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, 1985

• M.A., Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, 1982

• B.A., Philosophy, Wheaton College (IL), 1979


ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

• Kenneth Monroe Endowed Professorship of Philosophy, Westmont College, 2006-

• Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Leeds, 1999-2006

• Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Leeds, 1994-99

• Associate Professor of Philosophy (with tenure), Hampden-Sydney College, 1991-94

• Visiting Teaching Fellow, Department of Moral Philosophy, University of St. Andrews,
1991-92

• Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Hampden-Sydney College, 1985-91


CURRENT AREAS OF RESEARCH

• Moral epistemology
• Epistemology
• Normative Ethical Theory
• Applied Ethics
• Philosophy of Religion

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Edited volume

• Philosophical Papers, special issue on ‘The Problem of the Criterion’, 2011.


Selected Articles

  • ‘The Is/Ought Fallacy’ in R. Arp, ed., Just the Fallacies (Wiley-Blackwell), 2018, 360-364.
  • ‘What the Utilitarian Cannot Think’, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, no. 18, vol. 4, 2015.
  • ‘Non-contradiction: Oh Yeah and So What’, Think, no. 34, vol. 12, 2013
  • ‘About Angela: Wisdom and Theory’, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, vol.21, n.3, July 2012
  • ‘Editorial Introduction’, special issue on ‘The Problem of the Criterion’, Philosophical Papers, vol. 40, no. 3, Nov. 2011
  • ‘Y and Z are not off the Hook: the Survival Lottery made Fairer’, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 2010.
  • ‘We Have No Positive Epistemic Duties’, Mind, 2010
  • ‘A Problem for Conservatism’, Analysis, 2009
  • ‘More Bad News for the Logical Autonomy of Ethics’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy,  2007
  • ‘Moral Realism and Program Explanation’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2006
  • ‘Telling it Like it Is: Philosophy as Descriptive Manifestation’, American Philosophical Quarterly, 2005
  • ‘Sinnott-Armstrong’s Moral Scepticism’, Ratio, 2003
  • ‘What Justification Could Not Be’, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 2002
  • ‘On the Lack of “True Philosophic Spirit” in Aquinas’, Philosophy, 2001