Robert C. Koons - ARN Authors Page


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Philosophy Department
Waggener Hall 405
Campus mail code: C3500
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712-1180
(512) 471-4857; fax 471-4806
E-mail: koons@phil.utexas.edu

EDUCATION

B.A., Philosophy, Michigan State University. Summa cum laude, 1979.
B.A., Philosophy and Theology, Oxford University. First Class Honours, 1981
Ph.D., Philosophy, UCLA. 1987.

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

Philosophical Logic
Applications of Logic in Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Philosophy of Science
Metaphysics
Probability, Belief Revision, and Causal Reasoning

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Sept. 2000-- present: Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin.

1993-2000: Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin.

1987-1993: Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin.

HONORS

Gustave O. Arlt Award (Council of Graduate Schools) 1992
Carnap Prize (UCLA) 1987
Danforth Fellow, l979-85
Dillistone Scholar (Oriel College, Oxford), l980
Marshall Scholar, l979-1981

Robert C. Koons

Realism Regained
An Exact Theory of Teleology, Causation, and the Mind

Articles

Defeasible Reasoning, Special Pleading and the Cosmological Argument
The rehabilitation of causation and modal realism in recent analytic philosophy have made possible the revival of the argument from contingency to the existence of a necessary first cause. Recent work in defeasible or nonmonotonic logic means that this argument can be cast in such a way that it does not presuppose that every contingent situation, without exception, has a cause. Instead, the burden of proof is shifted to the skeptic, who must produce positive reasons for thinking that the cosmos is an exception to the defeasible law of causality. The most promising line of rebuttal open to the skeptic contradicts a plausible account of the nature of causal priority, namely, that the actuality of a token causes is necessitated by the actuality of its token effect. Several independent lines of argument in support of this account are outlined. File date: 11.03.00.

The Incompatibility of Naturalism and Scientific Realism
In this essay, Koons argues that scientific realism can provide no support to philosophical naturalism. In fact, the situation is precisely the reverse: naturalism and scientific realism are incompatible. File date: 11.03.00.

Post-Agnostic Science: How Physics is Reviving the Argument from Design
If physics and cosmology have led us to a revival of the argument from design, legitimating references to the activity of an intelligent creator of nature, this fact has implications for the practice of other sciences and disciplines.According to Koons, research on the origin of life may be overdue for some fundamental rethinking. In recent years, science has been wedded to a philosophy of materialism. The time has come for a trial separation, at the very least. File date: 11.03.00.

A New Look at the Cosmological Argument (pdf file)
The cosmological argument for God's existence has a long history, but perhaps the most influential version of it has been the argument from contingency. File date: 11.03.00.

Current Research/Book in Progress

"Are Probabilities Indispensable to the Design Inference?"
(pdf file) Koons considers both the Bayesian and Dembskian methods for making a design inference and offers what he calls "ontological complexity" to the debate.
Realism Regained: Applications of an Exact Theory of Causation and Teleology

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