Justin McBrayer, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Expertise:
- Applied ethics
- Epistemology
- History of philosophy
- Logic
- Metaethics
- Metaphysics
- Philosophy of religion
- Undercutting (undermining) defeaters of moral beliefs
Education:
- Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Missouri, 2008
- M.A., Philosophy, University of Missouri, 2005
- M.A., Philosophy, University of Montana, 2003
- B.S. Interdisciplinary Studies, Berry College, 1998
About Dr. Justin McBrayer
Dr. McBrayer joined the college in 2008. He presents and publishes widely in such journals as the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies, and Philosophical Studies, and at conferences and programs around the world, such as the Central European University Summer Program on Moral Intuitionism, Epistemological and Methodological Aspects, the American Philosophical Association national and regional meetings, and the Rocky Mountain Ethics Conference. He is the past chair of the Mountain-Pacific regional committee of the Society of Christian Philosophers and is an ad-hoc reviewer for many journals, including American Philosophical Quarterly, Episteme, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, and Journal of Analytic Theology.
Dr. McBrayer was awarded the New Faculty Award from Fort Lewis College in 2012. From 2009 to 2014, he was a Faculty-in-Residence, the first faculty member at Fort Lewis to live on campus in a residence hall apartment with his family among FLC students.
In the news
- Inside Higher Ed, 2022, "Diversity Statements Are the New Faith Statements"
- Areo, 2022, "Diverse Viewpoints, One Truth"
- Albuquerque Journal, 2021, "Go with what we know on vaccine, not fear of unknown"
- Heterodox Academy, 2021, "Even Truth U Cares About Social Justice"
- The Durango Herald, 2021, op-ed, "Why fact-checking fails to change minds"
- The Durango Herald, 2020, "Does La Plata County schools’ cyber surveillance go too far?"
- Fort Lewis College News, 2018, "Justin McBrayer named 2018-19 Fort Lewis College Featured Scholar"
- Ethics, Policy & Environment Journal, co-author with Sarah Roberts-Cady, 2018, "The Case for Preserving Bears Ears"
- The Denver Post, 2017, "Why should the line be drawn at chemical weapons?"
- Fort Lewis College News, 2017, "Fort Lewis College is a top producer of U.S. Fulbright Scholars"
- The Opinion Pages, The Dallas Morning News, 2017, "Why Christians Must Reject Alternative Facts"
- The Opinion Pages, The New York Times, 2016, "This Land Is Your Land. Or Is It?"
- The Opinion Pages, The New York Times, 2015, "Why Our Children Don’t Think There Are Moral Facts"
- International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2012, "Are skeptical theists really skeptics? Sometimes yes and sometimes no"
Highlights
In 2014, Dr. McBrayer co-edited Skeptical Theism: New Essays, from Oxford University Press.
About the Book
Given that we meet evils in every quarter of the world, could it be governed by an all-good and all-powerful deity? Whilst some philosophers argue that the problem of evil is strong evidence for atheism, others claim that all of the evils in our world can be explained as requirements for deeper goods. On the other hand, skeptical theists believe in God, but struggle with the task of explaining the role of evils in our world.
Dr. McBrayer Explains the Project
"The most common reason people offer for being an atheist is the problem of evil: how could there be so much evil in a world created by a perfect being like God? I’m interested in finding out whether this reason is as good as it is popular. My suspicion is that it’s not. As humans we should be humble about the scope of our abilities to discern whether evils in the world serve a greater purpose or not."