Philosophy Department Faculty
Daniel McKaughan
Associate Professor
Daniel McKaughan
Ph.D.
Contact
Stokes Hall North Room 351
Telephone: 617-552-3866
Email: daniel.mckaughan@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0002-1633-1942
Education
- Ph.D., Notre Dame
- M. Div., Princeton Theological Seminary
- B.A. University of Oregon
Courses
New Scientific Visions (Perspectives IV)
Philosophy of Biology (Darwin, Genes, and Embryology)
Philosophy of Science
Science and Religion
Epistemology
Research Interests
Philosophy of science
Philosophy of biology
Epistemology
Philosophy of religion
Office Hours
By Appointment
Department
Edited Books and Journal Issues
- History and Philosophy of Science: A Reader (co-edited with Holly Vande Wall, Boston College). London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
- Guest co-editor (with Rebekah L. H. Rice and Daniel Howard-Snyder). Special double issue of International Journal for Philosophy of Religion on “Approaches to Faith,” Volume 81, Issues 1-2, April 2017, 1-227.
- Guest co-editor (with Kevin C. Elliott). Special issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Science on “Cognitive Attitudes and Values in Science”. Volume 53, October 2015, 57-95.
Publications
- “The Influence of Niels Bohr on Max Delbrück: Revisiting the Hopes Inspired by ‘Light and Life’,” Isis, December 2005, Volume 96 Number 4:507-529.
- “From Ugly Duckling to Swan: C. S. Peirce, Abduction, and the Pursuit of Scientific Theories,” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, Vol. 44, Issue No. 3, 2008, 446-468.
- (2007 Charles S. Peirce Society Essay Contest Winner).
- “How Values in Scientific Discovery and Pursuit Alter Theory Appraisal” (with Kevin C. Elliott, University of South Carolina) Philosophy of Science, Vol. 76, No. 5, December 2009, 598-611.
- “Was Delbrück a Reductionist?” Chapter 6 in Creating a Physical Biology: The Three Man Paper and Early Molecular Biology, Phillip R. Sloan and Brandon Fogel, eds. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).
- “Speech Acts, Attitudes, and Scientific Practice: Can Searle Handle Assuming for the Sake of Hypothesis?” Pragmatics and Cognition, 20:1 (2012), 88-106.
- “Voles, Vasopressin, and Infidelity: A Molecular Basis for Monogamy, a Platform for Ethics, and More?” Biology and Philosophy, Volume 27, Issue 4 (2012), 521-543.
- “Representing Vague Opinion” (with John Drake, University of Georgia) Principia: An International Journal of Epistemology, Volume 16, Issue 2 (2012), 341-344.
- “Voles, Vasopressin, and the Ethics of Framing” (with Kevin C. Elliott, University of South Carolina) Science Vol. 338, No. 6112, 1285. December 7, 2012.
- “Authentic Faith and Acknowledged Risk: Dissolving the Problem of Faith and Reason” Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, Volume 49, Issue 1 (March 2013), 101-124.
- “Models, Scientific” in New Catholic Encyclopedia (Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy). Robert Fastiggi, et al. (Detroit: Gale-Cengage Learning and the Catholic University of America Press, 2013).
- “Methodological Naturalism” (with Erik L. Peterson, University of Wisconsin) in New Catholic Encyclopedia (Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy). Robert Fastiggi, et al. (Detroit: Gale-Cengage Learning and the Catholic University of America Press, 2013).
- “Brute Facts” in New Catholic Encyclopedia (Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy). Robert Fastiggi, et al. (Detroit: Gale-Cengage Learning and the Catholic University of America Press, 2013).
- “Ockham’s Razor” in New Catholic Encyclopedia (Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy). Robert Fastiggi, et al. (Detroit: Gale-Cengage Learning and the Catholic University of America Press, 2013).
- “Backtracking and the Ethics of Framing: Lessons from Voles and Vasopressin” (with Kevin C. Elliott, University of South Carolina) Accountability in Research, 20:3 (2013), 206-226.
- “Non-Epistemic Values and the Multiple Goals of Science” (with Kevin C. Elliott, Michigan State University) Philosophy of Science, Vol. 81, No. 1, January 2014, 1-21.
- “Delbrück, Max” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of American Science, Medicine, and Technology (Oxford Encyclopedias of American History), Hugh Slotten, ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
- “Moral Molecules and Love Drugs: Objectivity, Understanding, and Backtracking” (with Kevin C. Elliott, Michigan State University) in Normative Aspects of Science Communication: Proceedings of the Fourth Iowa State University Summer Symposium on Science Communication, edited by Jean Goodwin, Jean, Michael F. Dahlstrom, and Susanna Priest, 2014.
- “Religious Violence” Chapter 24 in The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion, Graham Oppy, ed. (London: Routledge, 2015).
- “Constructive Empiricism” in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd ed. Robert Audi, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015).
- “Empirical Adequacy” in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd ed. Robert Audi, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015).
- “Counterintuitive” in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd ed. Robert Audi, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015).
- “Hope” in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd ed. Robert Audi, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015).
- “Character Traits and the Neuroscience of Social Behavior” in Character: New Directions from Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology. Christian Miller, R. Michael Furr, Angela Knobel, and William Fleeson (eds.). (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
- “Introduction: Cognitive Attitudes and Values in Science” (with guest co-editor Kevin C. Elliott, Michigan State University) Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, special issue on “Cognitive Attitudes and Values in Science,” 53 (2015), 57-61.
- “Action-Centered Faith, Doubt, and Rationality,” Journal of Philosophical Research, Volume 41, Issue Supplement: Selected Papers in Honor of William P. Alston (June 2016), 71-90.
- “Darwin’s Descent of Man and the Value of Studying Science from a Liberal Arts Perspective” in
- The Quest for Excellence: Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Core Texts. Selected Proceedings from the Seventeenth Annual Conference of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, edited by Dustin Gish, Christopher Constas, and J. Scott Lee. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
- “Science and Stance Refinement From Within a Tradition: Common Sense Realism, Empiricism, Physicalism, and Undogmatic Faith.” In Joseph Famerée & Paulo Rodrigues (eds.) The Genesis of Concepts and the Confrontation of Rationalities (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium). Leuven: Peeters, 2017.
- “Approaches to Faith: Editorial Preface” (co-authored with Rebekah L. H. Rice & Daniel Howard-Snyder). International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, special issue on “Approaches to Faith”. April 2017, Volume 81, Issue 1, 1–6.
- “On the Value of Faith and Faithfulness,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, special issue on “Approaches to Faith.” April 2017, Volume 81, Issue 1, 7–29.
- “What Role Do Values Play in Scientific Inquiry?” Big Questions Online. February 13, 2017. http://www.bigquestionsonline.com/
- “Acts of Faith Interiorized Through a Glass Only Darkly: On Teresa Morgan’s Roman Faith and Christian Faith,” Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion. Forthcoming 2107.
- “Just the Facts or Expert Opinion? The Backtracking Approach to Socially Responsible Science Communication” (with Kevin C. Elliott, Michigan State University). In: Susanna Priest, Jean Goodwin, & Michael Dahlstrom (eds.), Ethics and Practice in Science Communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Forthcoming 2018.
- “Faith,” (with Dan Howard-Snyder) in Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion, Stewart Goetz and Charles Taliaferro, eds. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Forthcoming 2019.