David Kyle Johnson

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

King's College; Wilkes-Barre, PA

Office: Hafey-Marian 501

Phone: 570-208-5900 ex 5242

Fax: (570) 208-5988

Email: davidjohnson@kings.edu

Recent News:

  • My paper, "Natural Evil and the Simulation Hypothesis" was accepted for publication in the journal Philo.

 

  • I write a blog for Psychology Today, called "Plato on Pop," with William Irwin. You can find our blog here:

  • I host a podcast on Philosophy and Pop Culture with Jay Kelly. You can find the podcast here:

  • You can download my paper “History of Santa” (I mentioned this paper in my chapter in Christmas – Philosophy for Everyone. This is the fifth chapter in a book I am currently working on, The Myths that Stole Christmas)

  • My paper, "God, Fatalism, and Temporal Ontology" was accepted for publication in Religious Studies.

                You can read the paper here.

  • Irwin and I did a radio interview with Jim Bone on "The Office and Philosophy."

                Check it out here.

 

Education

 

University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma

Ph.D., Philosophy, May 2006

M.A., Philosophy, Aug 2002

 

Southern Nazarene University, Bethany, Oklahoma

B.A., Religion and Philosophy, magna cum laude, May 2000

 

Areas of Specialization

 

Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics, Logic

 

Areas of Competence

 

Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Ethics/Applied Ethics

 

Employment

 

Assistant Professor of Philosophy – King’s College (PA), 2006 to present.

Graduate Assistant – University of Oklahoma, Spring 2001 to Spring 2006.

Adjunct Professor – Oklahoma Baptist University, Fall 2003 to Fall 2004.

Research Assistant – University of Oklahoma, with Dr. Linda Zagzebski on her book “Divine Motivation Theory,” 2003.

 

Dissertation

 

Divine Omniscience and the Fatalist Dilemma

Committee: Linda Zagzebski (advisor), Reinaldo Elugardo, Jim Hawthorne, Chris Swoyer, Shmuel Shepkaru

 

 

TEACHING

 

Courses Taught at King’s College


Freshman Level Courses:

Critical Thinking

Liberal Arts Seminar: Myth Busters: Christmas, Santa, and other Weird Things.

Liberal Arts Seminar: The Bizarre Brain and Other Weird Things

Liberal Arts Seminar: The End of the World and other Weird Things

 

Sophomore Level Courses:

Business Ethics

Introduction to Logic

Introduction to Philosophy

Pop Culture (e.g., South Park, Star Trek) and Philosophy

World Religions

 

Junior/Senior Level Courses:

Meta-Logic

Metaphysics

Philosophy of Mind

Philosophy of Religion

Predicate Calculus/Modal Logic

Probability and Induction 


 

PUBLICATION

 

Books

 

Inception and Philosophy (editor) (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).

 

Introducing Philosophy Through Pop Culture: From Socrates to South Park, Hume to House(co-editor) (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).

 

Heroes and Philosophy: Buy the Book, Save the World (editor) (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).

 

Academic Journal Publications

 

"Natural Evil and the Simulation Hypothosis" Philo 14.2 (Fall/Winter 2011)

“God, fatalism and temporal ontology.”  Religious Studies, Vol. 45, No. 4 Dec. 2009 (pp. 435-454). This paper was nominated for the 2009 Excellence in Philosophy of Religion Prize (sponsored by St. Thomas Philosophy of Religion Project). It was also presented at the Pacific Regional Meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers on Theology and Ontology, Azusa Pacific University,Feb 22-24, 2007. It was also presented at the Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association’s Fall Meeting, Bloomsburg University, Oct. 28, 2006.

 

“Using Socrates to Teach the Virtues of Liberal Arts.” Ethics and Critical Thinking Journal, 2008 (4).

 

Conference Papers

 

"Identifying the Conflict between Religoin and Science." Preseanted at the Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association’s Spring Meeting, Mulenberg College, April 14th 2012.

 

“A Refutation of Skeptical Theism.” Presented at the Eastern Meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers (Fordham University, March 19th, 2011).

 

“The Argument from Reason: Lewis’s Fundamental Mistakes.” Presented at Oxbridge, 2008; “C.S. Lewis Summer Institute, The Self in Search for Meaning,” (Oxford, UK, July 28-Aug. 8, 2008).

 

 “Theism and the Multiverse Hypothesis: Did God Create More than One Universe?” Presented at the Central Meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers, Oklahoma Baptist University, April 09. Also Presented at Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association’s Fall Meeting, Bloomsburg University, Oct. 27, 2007.

 

“The Time Beyond Time: An Examination of C.S. Lewis’s Solution to Theological Fatalism.” Presented at the “C. S. Lewis: the Man and His Works, a 21st Century Legacy” conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on Oct. 26, 2007.

 

“Fatalism, The Real Way Out: The Failure of Frankfurt, Three-valued Logic, and Open Theism.” Presented at the North Texas Philosophical Association, 2005 Spring Meeting; Apr. 8, 2006, University of North Texas. 

 

“On the Severity of Theological and Logical Fatalism.” Presented at the North Texas Philosophical Association, 2005 Spring Meeting; Apr. 23, 2005, Southern Methodist University; and at Philosophy Department Colloquium, University of Oklahoma, May 6, 2005.

 

Conferences Attended (without presenting)

 

Alvin Plantinga Retirement Celebration, May 20-22, 2010. University of Notre Dame.

 

Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association, Spring Conference, King’s College April 21st, 2007 (Organizer)

 

 

Pop Culture and Philosophy Articles

 

“Tolkien’s Just War” Forthcoming in The Hobbit And Philosophy (Greg Bassham (ed.), Wiley-Blackwell).

 

“Inception and Free Will: Are They Compatible?” Co-Authored with John R. Fitzpatrick in Inception and Philosophy (David Kyle Johnson (ed.), Wiley-Blackwell).

 

“Taking a Leap of Faith: A How-to Guide” in Inception and Philosophy (David Kyle Johnson (ed.), Wiley-Blackwell).

 

“Area God Hospitalized, Slowly Dying” in The Onion and Philosophy (Sharon Kaye (ed.), Open Court, 2010).

 

“Is The Doctor The Doctor? Am I Still Me?” in Doctor Who and Philosophy (Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka (eds.), Open Court, 2010).

 

“Wikiality, Truthiness, and Gut Thinking: Doing Philosophy Colbert-Style” in Introducing Philosophy through Pop Culture: From Socrates to South Park, Hume to House(William Irwin and David Kyle Johnson (eds.), Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).

 

“The Santa Claus Lie: The Truth We Should Tell Our Children” in Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal (Scott Lowe (ed.), Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).

 

 “Colbert, Truthiness and Thinking from the Gut” in Colbert and Philosophy (Aaron Schiller (ed.), Open Court, 2009).

 

“Francis Griffin & The Church of The Holy Fonz: A Study of Religious Exclusivism and ‘Real’ Religion” in Family Guy and Philosophy (Jeremy Wisnewski (ed.), Blackwell, 2007). A truncated version of this chapter was also published in issue 39 of The Philosophers’ Magazine under the title “All praise the Fonz,” 2009.

 

 “Racial Quotas, Affirmative Action, and The Office” in The Office and Philosophy (Jeremy Wisnewski (ed.), Blackwell, 2008).

 

“The Obscene Watermark: Corporate Responsibility at Dunder-Mifflin” in The Office and Philosophy, (Jeremy Wisnewski (ed.), Blackwell, 2008).

 

“Johnny Cash, Prison Reform and Capital Punishment” (co-authored with Rev. Lance Schmitz)  in Johnny Cash and Philosophy (David Werther and John Huss (eds.), Open Court, 2008). 

 

 “‘A Story that is Told Again, and Again, and Again’: Recurrence, Providence and Freedom” in  Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy (Jason T. Eberl (ed.), Blackwell, 2008).

 

“The Virtuous Batman: Bruce Wayne as Moral Exemplar” (co-authored with Indy Rhodes) in Batman and Philosophy, (Mark White and Robert Arp (eds.), Blackwell, 2008).

 

“Revenge and Mercy in Tarantino: The Lessons of Ezekiel 25:17” in Tarantino and Philosophy, (Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad (eds.), Open Court, 2007).

 

“Cartmanland and the Problem of Evil” in South Park and Philosophy (Robert Arp (ed.), Blackwell, 2006).  

 

“Philosophy’s Influence on Film.” Presented at, and published in the proceedings of, the 4th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities; Honolulu Hawaii, Jan 2006.

 

Public Work and Appearances

 

Authors@Google talk on Inception and Philosophy. It can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ginQNMiRu2w

 

A blog (Plato on Pop) for psychology today, with William Irwin, on the intersection of philosophy and popular culture. It can be found at: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/plato-pop

 

A podcast, co-hosted with Jay Kelly, on the intersection of philosophy and popular culture. It can be found at: http://philosophyandpopculture.com/  (Appears as #3 in a ranked list of 50 philosophy podcasts, published by “Guide to Online Schools.” http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/library/best-philosophy-podcasts)

 

An op-ed for the Baltimore Sun, “Sorry Virginia,” on why parents shouldn’t tell the Santa Claus Lie. (Dec. 13, 2009) It can be found at: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2009-12-13/news/bal-op.santaclaus13dec13_1_santa-claus-parent-kids

 

“From Whence Christmas Came and Where it is Going.” Presented for Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Wyoming Valley, Dec.12, 2010.

 

“From Whence Santa Came, and Why He Should Leave” Presented for Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Wyoming Valley, Dec.4, 2011.

 

Was interviewed and quoted in an article in Continental Magazine (November 2007) about the use of pop culture in the classroom.

 

Appeared in Citizen’s Voice article “An Intellectual Look,” and my and William Irwin’s use of the NBC show The Office to look at philosophical issues. Sept 10, 2007)

 

“South Park: Inexcusable or Indispensable.”  Public Lecture, Barnes and Noble, Wilkes-Barre, PA (downtown location), (Feb. 28, 2007.) It can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc4IIeoVBnU

 

Radio Appearances (with William Irwin), on 97.9x’s “Jim Bone in the Morning”

            To promote The Office and Philosophy (Fall 2007)

            To promote Batman and Philosophy (Spring 2008)

 

 

Works in Progress

 

“The Failure of the Multiverse Hypothesis as a Defense of Theism” Under Consideration

 

“The Failure of Plantinga’s Solution to the Logical Problem of Natural Evil” Under Consideration 

 

“A Refutation of Skeptical Theism” Currently under consideration by Sophia.

 

“Identifying the Conflict between Science and Religion”

 

“Do Souls Exist?” In Progress

 

The Myths That Stole Christmas: Seven Misconceptions that Hijacked the Holiday and How We Can Take it Back.  An academic book, written for a popular audience, about the history of Christmas, and social, political, economic, and philosophical issues that surround the holiday. A book proposal is complete.