Mark Nelson

Mark grew up near Chicago, graduated from Wheaton College (B.A., Philosophy) and the University of Notre Dame (M.A., Ph.D., Philosophy).  Before coming to Westmont in August, 2006, he taught at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, the University of St Andrews in Scotland and the University of Leeds in England.

He is married to Pauline, and they have three daughters, two dachshund puppies and one cat.  He has opposable thumbs.

Research Interests

• Ethics
• Epistemology
• Philosophy of Religion

Representative Publications

• “More Bad News for the Logical Autonomy of Ethics” (Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 2007)
• “Moral Realism and Program Explanation” (Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2006)
• “Telling it Like it Is:  Philosophy as Descriptive Manifestation” (American Philosophical Quarterly, 2005)
• “Loving Attention:  A Realist, Projectivist Theory of Value” (Religious Studies, 2005)
• “What Justification Could Not Be” (International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 2002)
• “Ethics”, in the Oxford Companion to Christian Thought (2000)
•  “Moral Scepticism”, in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• “Temporal Wholes and the Problem of Evil” (Religious Studies, 1993)
• “Utilitarian Eschatology” (American Philosophical Quarterly, 1991)

Courses Taught at Westmont

• Philosophical Perspectives
• Ethics
• Contemporary Moral Problems
• Epistemology
• History of Modern Philosophy
• Philosophy Senior Seminar