Michael Tooley (born 1941) is an American
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, now emeritus at the
University of Colorado, Boulder, best known for his contributions to
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
.
Education and career
He has a BA from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
and earned his Ph.D. in
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
in 1968. He taught at
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
and the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
and since 1992 at the
University of Colorado Boulder.
Philosophical work
Tooley has worked on
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...
,
philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...
,
causality and
metaphysical naturalism, and has debated the existence of God with
William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig (; born August 23, 1949) is an American Analytic philosophy, analytic philosopher, Christian apologetics, Christian apologist, author, and theologian. He is a professor of philosophy at Houston Christian University and at the T ...
. His early paper "Abortion and Infanticide", arguing that there is no moral difference between them and that both are permissible, has been controversial.
Tooley was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the
Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1992.
Works
* ''The Problem of Evil'' (''Elements in the Philosophy of Religion'') (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019)
* ''Abortion – Three Perspectives'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)
* ''Knowledge of God'' (with
Alvin Plantinga
Alvin Carl Plantinga (born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosophy, analytic philosopher who works primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology (particularly on issues involving theory of justification, epistemic ...
, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008)
* ''Metaphysics'' (New York: Garland Publishing, 1999). In five volumes: Volume 1 - Laws of Nature, Causation, and Supervenience; Volume 2 - The Nature of Time; Volume 3 - Properties; Volume 4 - Particulars, Actuality, and Identity; Volume 5 - Necessity and Possibility.
* ''Time, Tense, and Causation'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)
* ''Causation'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Readings in Philosophy Series, 1993). Co-edited with
Ernest Sosa
Ernest Sosa (; ; born June 17, 1940) is an American philosopher primarily interested in epistemology. Since 2007 he has been Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, but he spent most of his career at Brown University.
...
.
* ''Causation: A Realist Approach'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987)
* ''Abortion and Infanticide'' (Oxford, 1985
983
See also
*
Growing block universe
References
External links
*
Living people
21st-century American philosophers
20th-century American philosophers
American philosophers of science
American metaphysicians
American philosophy academics
Princeton University alumni
University of Toronto alumni
Analytic philosophers
Place of birth missing (living people)
University of Colorado Boulder faculty
Academic staff of the University of Western Australia
Academic staff of the Australian National University
American atheists
1941 births
{{US-philosopher-stub
Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities