Scott Sehon
Professor of Philosophy
Fall 2009
- Logic (PHIL 223)
- Free Will (PHIL 334)
| Phone | (207) 725-3753 |
| Title | Professor |
| Department | PHILOSOPHY |
| Work Location | 104 Edward Pols House |
| ssehon@bowdoin.edu |
EDUCATION
1994 Princeton University, Ph.D in Philosophy.
Dissertation: “Action Explanation and the Nature of Mental States.”
Supervisors: Mark Johnston, Harry Frankfurt
1986 Harvard University, A.B. in Philosophy, (Magna cum laude)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Areas of Specialization:
• Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics
Areas of Competence:
• Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Language, Logic, Philosophy of Law, History of Modern Philosophy, History of Analytic Philosophy, Ethics, Political and Social Philosophy
Full curriculum vitae in pdf form
PUBLICATIONS:
Works in Progress:
Goals, Agency, and Free Will. Book manuscript in progress.
“Evidence and simplicity: Why we should reject homeopathy,” co-authored with Donald Stanley. Under review. Prepublication copy here.
“Action Explanation and the Free Will Debate.” in progress
Book:
Teleological Realism: Mind, Agency, and Explanation
2005. MIT Press.
Reviewed by:
Ginet, Carl, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
Price, Carolyn, in The Philosophical Quarterly
Slater, Carol, in Psyche
Worley, Sara, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Walden, Scott, in Metapsychology Online Book Reviews
Andrews, Kristin, in Philosophy in Review
Journal Articles
“The Problem of Evil: Skeptical Theism Leads to Moral Paralysis,” forthcoming in International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. Prepublication copy here.
“Teleology and Degrees of Freedom,” Internationale Zeitschrift für Philosophie, Volume 17:1 (2008): 123-144.
“A philosophical analysis of the evidence-based medicine debate,” BMC Health Services Research 2003, 3:14, . Co-authored with Donald E. Stanley. Also translated into Chinese and published in Medicine and Philosophy 25:2 (2004): 21-24 and 25:3 (2004): 30-33.
“An Argument Against the Causal Theory of Action Explanation,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 60:1(2000): 67-85.
“Connectionism and the Causal Theory of Action Explanation,” Philosophical Psychology, 11:4(1998): 511-531.
“Natural-Kind Terms and the Status of Folk Psychology,” American Philosophical Quarterly, 34:3(1997): 333-344.
“Deviant Causal Chains and the Irreducibility of Teleological Explanation,” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 78:2 (1997): 195-213.
“Okin on Feminism and Rawls,” The Philosophical Forum, 27 (1996): 321-332.
“Teleology and the Nature of Mental States,” American Philosophical Quarterly, 31 (1994): 63-72.
Book Chapters and Reviews
“Teleological Explanation.” Forthcoming in Blackwell Companion to Philosophy of Action, Timothy O’Connor and Constantine Sandis, eds. Blackwell. Prepublication copy here.
“Dementors, Horcruxes, and Immortality: The Soul in Harry Potter,” forthcoming in Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles, Gregory Bassham and David Bagget, eds. Blackwell. Prepublication copy here.
Review of Rationality and the Good: Critical Essays on the Ethics and Epistemology of Robert Audi Mark Timmons, John Greco, Alfred R. Mele (eds.) Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, March 16, 2008.
“Goal-Directed Action and Teleological Explanation,” in Causation and Explanation, Joseph Keim Campbell, Michael O’Rourke, and Harry Silverstein, eds. MIT Press. (2007)
Review of A Most Unlikely God: A Philosophical Enquiry into the Nature of God, by Barry Miller, Philosophy in Review, 18:2 (1998): 129-131.
Review of Logical Learning Theory: A Human Teleology and Its Empirical Support, by Joseph F. Rychlak, The Philosophical Quarterly, 46 (1996): 246-248.
Review of Subjectivity and Reduction by Barbara Hannan, Canadian Philosophical Reviews, 15 (1995): 250-252.
Recent Talks and Presentations
“Free Will and Action Explanation: Where the Consequence Argument Goes Wrong.”
Invited talk, University of Bonn, July, 2009
“Robots and Free Will”
University of Twente, Society for Philosophy and Technology, July 2009.
“Design, Evil, and Moral Paralysis”
Ian Ramsey Centre, St. Anne’s College, Oxford, July, 2008.
“Précis of Teleological Realism” and “Reply to O’Connor, Stoutland, and Harman”
Author-meets-critics book session at the American Philosophical Association Meetings, Pacific Division, March, 2008
“Action Explanation and the Free Will Debate”
Invited talk, University of New Mexico, March, 2007
Northern New England Philosophical Association Conference, October, 2006
Invited talk, Auburn University, September, 2006
“The Problem of Evil and Moral Paralysis,”
University of Wisconsin, Conference in Honor of Keith Yandell, September, 2005
"Truth and Relativism" (PDF)
Convocation Address at Bowdoin College, August, 2005.
Newspaper op-eds
“Judging who’s fit to be tied” (op-ed on gay marriage), Brunswick Times Record, June 6, 2008.
"Filibuster Tactic Smacks of Hypocrisy," (
PDF) Op-ed piece in Portland Press Herald, April 25, 2005.
"Tax Cap Proponents' Suggestion Would Create Free-Loaders," Op-ed piece in Brunswick Times Record,October 8, 2004.
“Iraq not ‘War on Terror,’” Brunswick Times Record, March 26, 2004.
"Arguments Against Gay Marriage Don't Hold Up," Op-ed piece in Brunswick Times Record, February 27, 2004.
“Supports the Troops; Not Bush Decisions,” Op-ed piece in Brunswick Times Record, March 28, 2003.
“Rights not absolute,” Brunswick Times Record, October 31, 2001.
“There is no ban on school prayer,” Op-ed piece in Brunswick Times Record, September, 2001.
“Immorality of homosexuality based on Bible is challenged,” Op-ed piece in Brunswick Times Record, September 29, 2000.
“Homosexuality Is Not Immoral, Despite Scriptural Prohibition,” Op-ed piece in Portland Press Herald, June 27, 1997. Also reprinted in the Binghamton, NY Press & Sun Bulletin, August 14, 1997.