René van Woudenberg

Recent Papers

 

I am currently working on the following projects:

• The Epistemic Responsibilities of the University
  In this research project I will study the epistemic values that modern universities ought to uphold, what responsibilities flow from these and how universities can meet these responsbilities in the face of contemporary challenges.
• Science Beyond Scientism
  This is a critical investigation of scientism, i.e. the claim that only the natural sciences are capable of giving us knowledge of the world and of ourselves.
• Responsible Belief
  This project aims to solve what I call 'the doxastic paradox', which consists of three theses that individually seem eminently plausible but jointly entail a contradiction. (1) Humans can rightly be held responsible for what they believe; (2) One can only be rightly held responsible for what one has a choice about; (3) Humans have no choice as to what they believe.
• Chance and Design
  This project investigates the interplay between chance and design and deals with the question how claims to the effect that something is due to chance or design can be epistemically justified.
• The Philosophy of Thomas Reid
  This project deals with various aspects of both Reid's epistemology and metaphysics.
• Christian Philosophy. I am interested in the relation between doing philosophy and Christian belief.

 

Published journal articles, volume chapters, encyclopedia entries from 2013 onwards:

• “The Nature of the Humanities”. Philosophy 93 (2018): 109-140.

• “The Metaphysics of Degrees” (with Rik Peels). European Journal of Philosophy 26 (2018): 46-65

• “Thomas Reid’s Engagement with Skeptics and Skepticism”, in Baron Reed & Diego Machuca (eds.), Skepticism: From Antiquity to the Present. London: Bloomsbury, 2018: 395-406.

• Scientism: Prospects and Problems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Edited volume with Jeroen de Ridder & Rik Peels.

• “Introduction: Scientism on the Philosophical Agenda” , in: Jeroen de Ridder, Rik Peels & René van Woudenberg (eds.), Scientism: Prospects and Problems (2018). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• “An Epistemological Critique of Scientism”, in: Jeroen de Ridder, Rik Peels & René van Woudenberg (eds.), Scientism: Prospects and Problems (2018). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• “The Metaphysics of Degrees”, with Rik Peels. European Journal of Philosophy (2018) DOI 10.1111/ejop.12185

• “Wolterstorff over geloof en wetenschap”. In Robert van Putten, Bart Cusveller & Rob Nijhoff (red.), Denken om Shalom.  De praktische filosofie van Nicholas Wolterstorff. Amsterdam: Buijten & Schipperheijn (2017): 103-118.

• “Presuppositions of Science”, Pensar en Movimiento 15: 1-16. DOI 10.15517/pensarmov.v15i1.27846

• “Las Presuposiciones de la Ciencia (del movimiento humano)”, Pensar en Movimiento 15 (2017): 17-33. DOI 10.15517/pensarmov.v15i1.29046

• “Newman and Nussbaum on the Purpose of Higher Education”, in Annemie Halsema & Angela Roothaan (red.), Scheuren in het bolwerk—vrouwen in de Filosofie. Amsterdam: VU Boekhandel (2017): 78-86.

• “In Memoriam Johannes C. Schouten”. Historisch Tijdschrift GKN 36 (2017): 59-61.

• “Waar is een universiteit goed voor?” (met Rik Peels en Jeroen de Ridder), Radix 43 (2017): 215-225.

• René van Woudenberg and Jeroen de Ridder. “Design Hypotheses Behave Like Skeptical Hypotheses: Why We Can’t Know the Falsity of Design Hypotheses”. International Journal for the Study of Scepticism (2017): 23-45.
• René van Woudenberg and Rik Peels. “The Metaphysics of Degrees”. European Journal of Philosophy (2016). DOI 10.1111/ejop.12185
• René van Woudenberg. “An Epistemic Argument for Toleration”, International Journal for Philosophy and Theology 76 (2016): 428-435. Online first, DOI 10.1080/21692327.2015.11333

• “Tests for Intrinsicness Tested”, with Kelvin McQueen. Philosophical Studies (2016) Online-first, DOI 10.1007/s11098-016-0644-0

• René van Woudenberg and Joëlle Rothuizen-van der Steen. “Science and the Ethics of Belief. An Examination of Philipse’s Rule R”. Journal for General Philosophy of Science 47 (2015): 349-362. Online-first, DOI 10.1007/s10838-015-9313-9
• René van Woudenberg and Joëlle Rothuizen-van der Steen. “Both Random and Guided”. Ratio 28 (2015): pp. 332-48.
• René van Woudenberg. “Disbelief”, “Scientism”, in Robert Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2015): 277, 960.
• René van Woudenberg. Gastredacteur van special issue over sciëntisme Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 2015 (117), pp. 221-335.
• René van Woudenberg. “Sciëntisme—een inleiding”. Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 117 (2015), pp. 221-232.
• René van Woudenberg. “Moeten we tegen natuurlijke theologie zijn?” Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Theologie 69 (2015), pp. 251-269.
• René van Woudenberg,  “Christianity and Science”, in: Steve Fuller, Mikael Stenmark & Ulf Zackariasson (eds.), Customized Science? The Impact of Worldviews on Contemporary Science. London: Palgrave McMillan (2014): 55-72.
• René van Woudenberg (2014), “Disagreement, Design and Thomas Reid”. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 41, 224-239.
• René van Woudenberg & Joëlle Rothuizen, “Both Random and Guided”, Ratio 2014, 17 pp. (Online first August 2014).
• René van Woudenberg & Ronald Meester, ”Infinite Epistemic Regress and Internalism”, Metaphilosophy Series in Philosophy 45.2(2014), 221-231
• René van Woudenberg, “True Qualifiers for Qualified Truths”, The Review of Metaphysics 268 (2014), 3-36 pp.
• René van Woudenberg & Jeroen de Ridder, “Referring to, Believing in, and Worshipping the Same God: A Reformed View”, Faith and Philosophy 31.1 (2014), 46–67. (Preprint)
• René van Woudenberg, “Thomas Reid Between Externalism and Internalism” Journal of the History of Philosophy 51 (2013), 75-92 (Preprint)
• René van Woudenberg, “Limits of Science and the Christian Faith”, in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 65 (2013), 24-36.
• René van Woudenberg, “A Brief History of Theodicy”, in Justin McBrayer & Daniel Howard-Snyder (eds.), A Companion to the Problem of Evil (Oxford/London: Wiley Blackwell, 2013), 189-204.
• René van Woudenberg, “Belief is Involuntary. The Evidence of Thought Experiments and Empirical Psychology”, in Discipline Filosofiche. Revista Semestrale (2013), 111-131. (Preprint)
• René van Woudenberg. “Chance, Design, Defeat”, European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 5 (2013), 39-49 (Preprint)

 

Books

• René van Woudenberg & Jeroen de Ridder, “Deze universiteit. Filosoferen over de VU,” (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2014), 80 pp.

 

Click here for an overview of more publications.