William Vanderburgh
Contact
Bio
Born in Montreal, Canada, Dr. Vanderburgh completed his PhD in Philosophy of Science at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Canada. He worked at Wichita State University from 2001-2014, teaching Philosophy and holding a series of administrative roles that included faculty development, directing the Honors program, and creating the Office for Faculty Development and Student Success. He moved to California State University, San Bernardino, in 2014, where he was Dean of Undergraduate Studies for two years and where he is now a Professor in the Department of Philosophy. In his spare time Vanderburgh enjoys cooking, racing sailboats, playing poker, and photography.
Education
PhD in Philosophy (of Science) from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, 2001
Courses/Teaching
Dr. V. teaches a lot of different courses, including Critical Thinking, Symbolic Logic, Philosophy of Science, Early Modern Philosophy, Scientific Revolutions, Intro to Ethics, Intro to Philosophy of Religion, and occasional advanced special topics including David Hume, Philosophy of Cosmology, and more.
Specialization
History and Philosophy of Science, history of astronomy and physics, philosophy of evidence, David Hume's epistemology, and philosophy of religion, logic.
Research and Teaching Interests
I usually describe my specialization as History and Philosophy of Science, but I approach my work from a broad and historically informed perspective that tends to cross traditional subject boundaries. I have strong interests in contemporary astrophysics, cosmology and gravitation theory, the scientific revolution (Copernicus to Newton), the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of the environment. My publications usually focus on issues related to evidence and proof, with cases taken from a wide variety of subject areas. I have written a dissertation and several papers on the Dark Matter problem in astronomy (and was the first philosopher to do so), a couple of papers in the history of astronomy, and some in the history of philosophy. My book, David Hume on Miracles, Evidence, and Probability, was published in spring 2019, and came out in paperback in fall 2020. I was the compiler and editor of, and a contributor to, the first edition of Copi and Cohen, The Essentials of Logic (2003), but that text is now out of print. As of 2023, I am working on three inter-related projects that I hope will lead to (1) a textbook on philosophy of religion, (2) a book for a general audience arguing against Christian Nationalism and in defense of church/state separation, and (3) a book for a general audience on arguments for the existence of gods.