The presidential address to the March 2003 meeting of the society at Lexington, KY.

McDowell’s account of skepticism depends on the idea that skepticism makes two claims that are, at best, intellectually optional. One of these is the thesis that the position the subject inhabits relative to some object is something that is common between cases when the subject has false beliefs or perceptions and true beliefs and perceptions. McDowell calls this the “highest common factor conception” of our subjective position. On this view the subject relates to the object through some intermediary that, to the subject, is indistinguishable whether or not it is true to the object that it claims to represent. When this thesis is adopted, the question, “How do you know that what you are enjoying is a genuine glimpse of the world?” becomes a question that one takes seriously and that raises the skeptical problem. In sideways-on inquiry, on my reconstruction, there are three positions or moments. One is the view taken by the subject. Another is the object viewed by the subject. The third, which characterizes a sideways-on inquiry as sideways-on, is what I will call a metaview that affords, or claims to afford, a perspective on the view, the object viewed and their relation that is completely independent of them.

A book review on William Desmond's Hegel’s God: A Counterfeit Double?

Undergraduate Section

The church needs to think seriously about the references used to speak of God. It has been a part of the church’s tradition to refer to God the Father as one person of the Trinity. One can still refer to God as Father without creating a definite male gender image (especially when it is used interchangeably with God as our Mother). What is in question concerning references to God are the pronouns the church has used for God. Such terms as "His," "Him," or "He" give a male role to a genderless God. This is a crucial concern because of the some what unconscious role God as a male has played to exclude women and exalt men. 

Mysticism, mystic experiences, and encounters with the divine are important—and even integral—to many religions throughout the world, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. These various religious traditions have many differences, yet there are similarities in their search for the divine. Mysticism, defined as experiencing the divine, should have a special importance in Christianity. Christianity posits a God who is transcendent, yet immanent, who seeks to have fellowship with his people. As Christians we believe we can have a relationship with the Deity, through the person of Jesus Christ. Because of this we should have a unique conception of mystical experiences as significant to our spiritual lives. 

Essentially my essay discusses God knowledge and how what God knows effects us. I discuss that if God knows all things then humans are not truly free and I also discuss another option for what God may know, and beyond that I discuss what kind of biblical backing there is for the theory the I propose. My essential thesis is God know all the possibilities of the things that could happen in God’s creation from here to the end of time. So, God does not know the future with absolute certainty but instead just what the future could hold for us, and also what the future probably holds for us. 

Most people have an idea of God that is centered on His omnipotence. This influence comes from classical theism. When love is seen as the foremost quality of God, one’s concept of God changes to being more relational. This relational God is superior in many ways to a God who is actually limited by His omnipotence. 

Many ideas presented by John Wesley are similar to those presented by Aristotle. These similarities become apparent in various areas, especially in the idea that each person has potential that can be actualized. Because these similarities are apparent, the thoughts of Aristotle can easily be employed to assist in understanding many of Wesley's thoughts. Specifically, the discussion of virtue presented in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics can assist one in understanding Wesley's ideas of affections and tempers, the process of Christian perfection, means of grace, and the importance of community.