David A. Vander Laan

David grew up in Michigan and graduated from Calvin College (B.A., Mathematics and Philosophy). There he was delighted to discover that even the big, philosophical questions could—sometimes—be addressed with rigorous, conviction-producing arguments. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame (Ph.D., Philosophy) and from there came to teach at Westmont. He currently serves on the Faith and Philosophy Board of Editorial Consultants.

David is married to Kate, and they have one daughter, Salem.

Some of David’s extracurricular book recommendations can be viewed on his Hall of Fame shelf at goodreads.com. David enjoys many games; his recommendations will be available at an unspecified future date.

Reseach Interests

• Metaphysics
• Logic
• Philosophy of Religion

Click here for more detail.

Selected Publications

• "A Relevance Constraint on Composition" (Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2010)
• “The Sanctification Argument for Purgatory” (Faith & Philosophy, 2007)
• Knowledge and Reality: Essays in Honor of Alvin Plantinga, edited with Matthew Davidson and Thomas Crisp (Kluwer, 2006)
• “Persistence and Divine Conservation” (Religious Studies, 2006)
• “Counterpossibles and Similarity,” in Frank Jackson and Graham Priest, eds., Lewisian Themes: the Philosophy of David K. Lewis (Oxford, 2004)
• “A Regress Argument for Restrictivism” (Philosophical Studies, 2001)
• “The Ontology of Impossible Worlds” (Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 1997)

Courses

• Philosophical Perspectives
• Ancient & Medieval Philosophy
• Critical Reasoning and Logic
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophical Theology
• Metaphysics
• Free Will and Its Significance