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Rico Vitz

CURRICULUM VITAE (ABBREVIATED)


AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION


Early Modern Philosophy, Moral Psychology, Ethics


ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS


Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of North Florida, 2006-Present

Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Azusa Pacific Univeristy, 2005-6


EDUCATION


Ph.D., Philosophy, University of California - Riverside, 2006
Virtuous Belief: Descartes, Hume, and the Proper Method of Belief Formation
Committee: Paul Hoffman (Chair), Janet Broughton, Don Garrett, Peter Graham, Gary Watson


HONORS AND AWARDS


Research
  • NEH Summer Stipend, Hume's Psychology of Religious Belief, 2008

Teaching
  • Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award (finalist), UNF, 2008-9
  • Mentor TA, TA Development Program, UCR, 2004-5
  • Teaching Excellence Award, UCR, 2001-2
  • Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award (nominee), Utah, 1999-2000

WORKS IN PROGRESS


Book (Monograph)
  • Noble, Peaceful, and Strong: Descartes and the Ethics of Belief (conditionally accepted for publication with Springer/Kluwer Academic), being revised for resubmission.

Articles
  • "Doxastic Virtues as Moral Virtues in Hume's Epistemology," being revised for resubmission.
  • "Lies, Captivating Lies, and Religious Belief: Hume on the Learned Elite and the Christian 'Superstition'," under review.
  • "Hume on 'the Irresistible Contagion of Opinion'," invited for presentation at the Hume Society Conference (2011), in preparation.

PUBLICATIONS 


Journal Articles
  • "Descartes and the Question of Direct Doxastic Voluntarism," Journal of Philosophical Research, forthcoming.
  • "Sympathy and Benevolence in Hume's Moral Psychology," Journal of the History of Philosophy 42:3 (July 2004): 261-75.
  • "Hume and the Limits of Benevolence," Hume Studies 28:2 (November 2002): 271-95.

Encyclopedia Entry
  • "Doxastic Voluntarism," The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, eds. James Fieser and Bradley Dowden, February 2008.

Reviews

  • Review of Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel Dennett, Faith and Philosophy, forthcoming.
  • Review of The Riddle of Hume's Treatise: Skepticism, Naturalism, and Irreligion, by Paul Russell, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, July 2008.

PRESENTATIONS (2005  - Present) 


Refereed 
  • "Lies, Captivating Lies, and Religious Belief: Hume on the Learned Elite and the Christian 'Superstition',"

    • Hume Society Conference, August 2009.
    • Florida Philosophical Association, November 2008.
    • Society of Christian Philosophers - Western, October 2008.

  • "Motivationally/Emotionally Biased Anti-Religious Belief,"

    • Society of Christian Philosophers - Midwestern, April 2009.
  • "Doxastic Virtues as Moral Virtues in Hume's Epistemology,"

    • American Philosophical Association - Pacific, March 2008.
    • Florida Philosophical Association, November 2007.
    • Hume Society Conference, August 2007.
  • "Descartes and the Question of Direct Doxastic Voluntarism,"

    • American Philosophical Association - Pacific, April 2007.
    • Society of Christian Philosophers - Western, February 2007.
  • "Hume on the Moral Assessment of People for Their Beliefs,"

    • Hume and His Critics, April 2005.

Invited 
  • "Hume's Irreligious Philosophy'"

    • Central Florida Community College, March 2009.
  • "Lies, Captivating Lies, and Religious Belief: Hume on the Learned Elite and the Christian 'Superstition',"

    • University of Florida, November 2008.
  • Motivationally/Emotionally Biased Anti-Religious Belief,"

    • Society of Orthodox Philosophy in America, February 2008.
  • "Doxastic Virtues as Moral Virtues in Hume's Epistemology,"

    • University of California - Irvine, February 2007.
    • Society of Orthodox Philosophy in America, January 2007.
  • "Meditation, Education, and Self-Deception,"

    • Azusa Pacific University, May 2006.
    • University of North Florida, March 2006.
  • "Unmasking the Cartesian Meditator,"

    • Fort Hays State University, February 2006.
    • California State University - Fresno, February 2006.

Panels
  • "Persons, Property, and the State: The Views of Locke, Rousseau, and Kant," Liberty Fund, February 2008.
  • "F. A. Hayek’s The Constitution of Liberty," Liberty Fund, January 2008.


Commentaries

  • On Gerald Gaus's "The Continuing Challenge of Hobbes to Public Reason Liberalism," Blue Cross/Blue Shield Ethics Center Symposium, November 2009.
  • On Mitchell Haney's "The Value of Slow," Blue Cross/Blue Shield Ethics Center Symposium, November 2008.

COURSES TAUGHT (2006 - Present) 


Graduate
  • Lies and Self-Deception
  • Virtues: Classic and Modern 

Upper Division

  • Lies and Self-Deception
  • Modern Philosophy
  • Virtues: Classic and Modern
  • Theories of Tolerance

Lower Division

  • Reasoning and Critical Thinking
  • Science and Religion - Honors
  • Introduction to Philosophy

Independent Studies - Graduate

  • Hume and Kant: Epistemology (3 unit)

Independent Studies - Undergraduate

  • Modern Political Philosophy: Hobbes (3 unit)
  • Medieval Religion: Maimonides' Guide (3 unit)
  • Religious Epistemology (1 unit)
  • Medieval Religion: Aquinas's Summa Theologica (3 unit)
  • Aristotle and Hume: Ethics (3 unit)
  • Aristotle East and West (1 unit)

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

  • Society of Orthodox Philosophy in America

REFERENCES

 
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