Kevin McCain

Kevin McCain
Professor

Professor (P), Philosophy , College of Arts and Sciences

Overview

I grew up in southern Illinois (about as far away from Chicago as you can be while remaining in the state). When I was growing up I was convinced that I was going to be a lawyer; however, as a junior in college I decided that I was more interested in philosophy than law. So, I added a philosophy major and decided to pursue a graduate education with the hopes of becoming a philosophy professor. I find many areas of philosophy to be extremely exciting and worthwhile, but my primary philosophical interests remain within the realm of epistemology (the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge and rational belief).

In addition to my philosophical interests I am also a fan of science fiction and fantasy (Yoda and Darth Vader can both be found in my office along with Han Solo’s alter-ego, Indiana Jones). I have been able to combine my interests in philosophy and sci-fi/fantasy by writing articles for philosophy and pop culture books — including Philosophy and Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy and Doctor Who. If I were to sum up the way that I approach teaching philosophy in a pithy phrase it would be something like this: “philosophy is fun, so learning it should be too.”

Selected Publications

Academic Article

Year	Title	Altmetric
2021	Forgetting memory skepticism 2021
2020	What the Debasing Demon Teaches Us About Wisdom. Acta Analytica. 35:521-530. 2020
2019	Making Understanding Intelligible. Science and Education. 28:797-799. 2019
2019	Dispelling the disjunction objection to explanatory inference. Philosophers' Imprint. 19. 2019
2019	In Defense of the Explanationist Response to Skepticism. International Journal for the Study of Skepticism. 9:38-50. 2019
2018	Explanationist aid for phenomenal conservatism 2018
2018	Explanatory virtues are indicative of truth 2018
2018	Which question do polls about evolution and belief really ask, and why does it matter?. Public Understanding of Science. 27:2-10. 2018
2017	An Isolation Objection to Phenomenal Conservatism 2017
2017	A Clean Bill of Health for the Interventionist Account of the Basing Relation: A Reply to Flowerree. Syndicate Philosophy. 2017
2017	It Matters Which Explanation Is Best: A Reply to Cutter and Swenson. Syndicate Philosophy. 2017
2017	Syndicate Philosophy 2017
2017	The Coherence of Explanationist Evidentialism: A Reply to Smart. Syndicate Philosophy. 2017
2017	Undaunted explanationism 2017
2016	Believe in or about Evolution?. Bioscience. 66:187-188. 2016
2016	Skepticism and elegance: An explanationist rejoinder. International Journal for the Study of Skepticism. 6:30-43. 2016
2015	Is Forgotten Evidence a Problem for Evidentialism? 2015
2015	Explanation and the Nature of Scientific Knowledge. Science and Education. 24:827-854. 2015
2015	A New Evil Demon? No Problem for Moderate Internalists. Acta Analytica. 30:97-105. 2015
2015	Explanationism: Defended on All Sides 2015
2015	Interventionism Defended 2015
2015	No knowledge without evidence 2015
2014	Why Explanatoriness Is Evidentially Relevant. Thought: A Journal of Philosophy. 3:145-153. 2014
2014	Evidentialism, Explanationism, and Beliefs About the Future 2014
2014	Pick Your Poison: Beg the question or embrace circularity. International Journal for the Study of Skepticism. 4:125-140. 2014
2014	Testimonial Knowledge from Lies. Philosophia. 42:459-468. 2014
2013	Two skeptical arguments or only one? 2013
2013	Explanationist evidentialism. Episteme. 10:299-315. 2013
2013	Review of Audi, Epistemology: A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge 3rd Edition. Science and Education. 22. 2013
2013	Review of Gauch, Scientific Method in Brief. Teaching Philosophy. 36. 2013
2013	Review of Steup and Sosa, Contemporary Debates in Epistemology. Science and Education. 22. 2013
2012	A predictivist argument against scepticism. Analysis. 72:660-665. 2012
2012	The interventionist account of causation and the basing relation 2012
2012	Against Hanna on Phenomenal Conservatism. Acta Analytica. 27:45-54. 2012
2008	The virtues of epistemic conservatism 2008
2008	Descartes and the Creation of Eternal Truths. Southwest Philosophical Studies. 30:65-70. 2008

Book

Year	Title	Altmetric
2021	Epistemic Dilemmas New Arguments, New Angles 2021
2021	Epistemology: 50 puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments 2021
2021	Epistemic dilemmas: New arguments, new angles 2021
2021	Introductory note 2021
2019	Uncertainty How It Makes Science Advance 2019
2019	Preface 2019
2019	What is scientific knowledge?: An introduction to contemporary epistemology of science 2019
2018	The Mystery of Skepticism New Explorations 2018
2018	Believing in Accordance with the Evidence New Essays on Evidentialism 2018
2018	Best explanations: New essays on inference to the best explanation 2018
2016	The Nature of Scientific Knowledge An Explanatory Approach 2016
2014	Evidentialism and Epistemic Justification 2014
2014	Evidentialism and epistemic justification 2014

Chapter

Year	Title	Altmetric
2021	Epistemic dilemmas, epistemic quasi-dilemmas, and quasi- epistemic dilemmas. 77-85. 2021
2019	Epistemic conservatism and the basing relation. 201-214. 2019
2019	How do explanations lead to scientific knowledge?. 52-65. 2019
2018	Best explanations: An introduction. 1-3. 2018
2018	Evidentialism: A Primer. 1-4. 2018
2018	Explanationist Evidentialism: A Defense. 375-391. 2018
2018	The evidential impact of explanatory considerations. 121-129. 2018
2016	Hero or Villain? 2016
2016	Living for More 2016
2016	The One, the Only, Darrow 2016
2015	The Doctor Lies 2015
2014	Who is Raistlin Majere? 2014
2013	Evolutionary Theory and the Epistemology of Science. 101-119. 2013
2012	"Demons, Dreamers, and Madmen": Is Ozzy Going Insane?. 163-170. 2012