Dr. Travis Dumsday
Chair, Philosophy and Religious Studies
Education
- PhD Philosophy, University of Calgary
- MA Philosophy, University of Waterloo
- BA Philosophy and Political Science, Carleton University
- Diploma, Liberal Arts, Augustine College
Research Area
My main research areas are philosophy of science, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and the mediaeval period, though I find that just about all philosophy is intensely interesting. In my teaching I like to emphasize the development of critical reasoning skills and a close engagement with primary source texts. If you enjoy discussing deep questions like the reality of God and the nature of morality (or even if you loathe it but rightly recognize that it’s really, really important) then you’ll want to take philosophy.
Sample Recent Publications
“Using Natural-Kind Essentialism to Defend Dispositionalism.” Erkenntnis 78 (2013): 869-880.
“Laws of Nature Don’t Have Ceteris Paribus Clauses, They Are Ceteris Paribus Clauses.” Ratio: An International Journal of Analytic Philosophy 26 (2013): 134-147.
“A New Argument for Intrinsic Biological Essentialism.” Philosophical Quarterly 62 (2012): 486-504.
“Divine Hiddenness as Divine Mercy.” Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion 48 (2012):183-198.
“Why (Most) Atheists Have a Duty to Pray.” Sophia: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysical Theology and Ethics 51 (2012): 59-70.
“Is There Still Hope for a Scholastic Ontology of Biological Species?” Thomist 76 (2012): 371-395.
For further information, please see Dr Travis Dumsday’s Curriculum Vitae.