Paul B. Moser

Paul B. Moser was an American philosopher known for work in epistemology, philosophy of religion, and metaphysics. He contributed to debates about epistemic justification, religious experience, and theism, developing positions that engaged figures across twentieth- and twenty-first-century analytic philosophy. His scholarship intersected with academic institutions, theological communities, and contemporary debates on knowledge, evidence, and religious belief.

Early life and education

Moser was born in the United States and pursued higher education at institutions associated with analytic philosophy through programs at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Notre Dame. At Berkeley he studied within an intellectual milieu connected to figures like Wilfrid Sellars, W. V. O. Quine, Donald Davidson, Paul Feyerabend, and John Searle. At Notre Dame he encountered work related to Thomas Aquinas, Edmund Husserl (through phenomenological scholarship present at Notre Dame), Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, and Eleonore Stump. His formative training placed him in dialogue with scholars associated with analytic theology, the Reformed epistemology movement, and contemporary epistemology debates influenced by Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Roderick Chisholm.

Academic career and positions

Moser held faculty appointments and visiting positions at universities and seminaries linked to both secular and religious traditions, including the University of Arizona, Vanderbilt University, University of Notre Dame, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He participated in conferences and workshops at venues such as Princeton University, Yale University, Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the American Philosophical Association meetings. Colleagues and interlocutors included philosophers and theologians like Alvin Plantinga, William P. Alston, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Linda Zagzebski, John Hick, and Richard Swinburne. Moser also engaged with scholars from related fields represented at institutions such as the Center for Theological Inquiry, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the Brookings Institution for public philosophy dialogues.

Philosophical work and contributions

Moser is best known for advancing positions in epistemology that challenge classical foundationalism and influential evidentialist accounts associated with thinkers like Bertrand Russell, Richard Feldman, Earl Conee, and W. K. Clifford. He developed arguments interacting with proponents of reformed epistemology such as Alvin Plantinga and interlocutors like William P. Alston on the epistemic status of religious experience. Moser proposed forms of epistemic justification emphasizing experiential warrant and proper function, engaging concepts used by Thomas Reid, Roderick Chisholm, Gilbert Ryle, Wilfrid Sellars, and Donald Davidson. His approach addressed skepticism debates traceable to René Descartes, David Hume, and G. E. Moore, while dialoguing with contemporary work by Ernest Sosa, Jonathan Dancy, Timothy Williamson, and Hilary Kornblith.

In philosophy of religion Moser examined the epistemology of religious belief, religious epistemic practices, and divine hiddenness, critiquing and extending arguments associated with John Hick, Richard Swinburne, William Lane Craig, J. L. Mackie, and Paul Draper. He defended the rationality of theistic belief against evidentialist critiques offered by figures like J. L. Mackie and engaged theodicy and divine action debates linked to Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Leibniz, and Gottfried Leibniz. Moser’s metaphysical reflections intersected with discussions by David Lewis, W. V. O. Quine, Saul Kripke, and Peter van Inwagen concerning modal metaphysics, ontology, and personhood.

Major publications

Moser’s books and articles appeared in venues that included university presses and peer-reviewed journals frequented by scholars associated with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Princeton University Press, and journals like the Philosophical Review, Nous, Faith and Philosophy, and Religious Studies. His notable books included titles that addressed the interaction of knowledge and religious belief, bringing him into conversation with works by Alvin Plantinga (e.g., "Warranted Christian Belief"), William P. Alston (e.g., "Perceiving God"), Linda Zagzebski (e.g., "Virtues of the Mind"), and Nicholas Wolterstorff (e.g., "Divine Discourse"). He also published essays responding to articles by Richard Swinburne, John Hick, Earl Conee, Richard Feldman, and Timothy Williamson and contributed chapters to volumes edited alongside scholars affiliated with Blackwell Publishing and the Cambridge Companion series.

Reception and influence

Moser’s work influenced debates among philosophers of religion and epistemologists at institutions such as Princeton Theological Seminary, Duke University, Notre Dame Graduate School, Yale Divinity School, Harvard Divinity School, and the University of Oxford. His interlocutors included critics and supporters from the circles of reformed epistemology, analytic theology, and mainstream epistemology, and his views were discussed in symposia featuring scholars like Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, William P. Alston, Linda Zagzebski, John Hick, Richard Swinburne, Timothy Williamson, Ernest Sosa, and Earl Conee. Reviews and critical engagements appeared in journals such as Faith and Philosophy, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, and Religious Studies Review, influencing subsequent work by philosophers at Vanderbilt University, University of Notre Dame, University of Arizona, Princeton University, and King's College London.

Category:American philosophers Category:Philosophers of religion Category:Epistemologists