Laura W. Ekstrom
Department of Philosophy
The College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
757-221-2726
[email protected]
EDUCATION
University of Arizona, Ph.D., Philosophy, 1993
University of Notre Dame, visiting graduate student, 1991
Stanford University, A.B., Philosophy, with Honors and with Distinction, 1988
Amherst College, undergraduate student, 1984 – 1985
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2013 – present: Class of 2016 Professor of Philosophy, William & Mary
2014 – 2015: Interim Department Chair, Philosophy, William & Mary
2010 – 2013: Department Chair, Philosophy, William & Mary
2004 – 2013: Associate Professor of Philosophy, William & Mary
2001 – 2004: Robert F. and Sarah M. Boyd Associate Professor of Philosophy, William & Mary
2000 – 2001: Associate Professor of Philosophy, William & Mary
1998 – 2000: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, William & Mary
1993 – 1998: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Bates College
1992 – 1993: Graduate Fellow, The University of Arizona
1992 – 1993: Assistant Editor, Philosophical Studies
1991 – 1992: Research Assistant, The University of Arizona
1989 – 1991: Teaching Assistant and Instructor, The University of Arizona
1988 – 1989: Graduate Fellow, The University of Arizona
HONORS AND AWARDS
Class of 2016 Distinguished Professorship, 2013 – present.
Robert F. and Sara M. Boyd Distinguished Term Associate Professorship, 2001 – 2004.
William & Mary Society of the Alumni Fellowship Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2001.
Most Outstanding Graduate Student (William Fink Award), University of Arizona, 1992.
Preliminary Examination Distinction (unprecedented), Oral and Written Exam Honors, 1992.
COURSES TAUGHT
William & Mary:
150W: Writing-Intensive Freshman Seminar in Philosophy
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201: Introduction to Philosophy
311: Philosophy of Religion
403: Advanced Ethics
415: Advanced Metaphysics and Epistemology
432: Advanced Seminar: Free Will
432: Advanced Seminar: God and Human Suffering
432: Advanced Seminar: Motivation and Responsibility
432: Advanced Seminar: Well-Being and Autonomy
432: Advanced Seminar: Luck and Human Agency
441: Independent Study on Moral Responsibility
442: Independent Study on Action Theory
496: Honors Thesis on Skeptical Theism
496: Honors Thesis on The Problem of Evil
Bates College:
Free Will and Moral Responsibility
Introduction to Philosophy
Theory of Knowledge
Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy and Feminism
Seminar in Epistemology
Advanced Seminar: Topics in Metaphysics
The University of Arizona:
Introduction to Philosophy
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
External:
Summer Stipend Award Recipient, John Templeton Foundation, 2004.
Faculty Summer Seminar Participant, Director: Alvin Plantinga, 2004.
Pew Charitable Trust Summer Stipend Award, 1999.
Faculty Summer Seminar Participant, Director: Peter van Inwagen, 1999.
National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Stipend Award, 1998.
Louise F. Marshall Foundation Doctoral Fellowship, 1992-1993.
Graduate Fellowship, University of Arizona, 1988-1989.
Stanford University, Golden Grant for Research in the Humanities, 1987.
William & Mary:
William & Mary Faculty Research Leave, 2015-2016.
William & Mary Faculty Research Leave, 2009-2010.
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William & Mary Summer Research Grant, 2007.
William & Mary Faculty Research Leave, 2002-2003.
William & Mary Summer Research Grant, 2000.
William & Mary Summer Research Grant, 1999.
RESEARCH
Books:
1.
Free Will: A Philosophical Study, Focus Series in Philosophy (Boulder: Westview
Press), 2000 (236 pp.).
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2.
Excepts reprinted (pp. 99-129, and 133-38) as “Varieties of Libertarianism:
Event-Causal Approaches,” in Critical Concepts in Philosophy: Free Will,
Volume III, ed. John Martin Fischer (London: Routledge, 2005).
Excerpt reprinted (pp. 81-99) as “Varieties of Libertarianism: Agent-Causal
Approaches,” in Critical Concepts in Philosophy: Free Will, Volume III, ed.
John Martin Fischer (London: Routledge, 2005).
Agency and Responsibility: Essays on the Metaphysics of Freedom (Boulder:
Westview Press), 2001. Edited, with Introduction. Contributions by Harry Frankfurt,
Peter van Inwagen, David Lewis, Elizabeth Anscombe, John Martin Fischer, Michael
Bratman, Roderick Chisholm, Laura W. Ekstrom, Robert Kane, Peter Strawson,
Alfred Mele & David Robb, David Widerker, and Susan Wolf.
Articles Published in Journals and Edited Volumes:
1.
“Event-Causal Libertarianism,” The Routledge Companion to Free Will, eds. Neil
Levy, Kevin Timpe, and Meghan Griffith, forthcoming.
2.
“The Cost of Freedom,” Free Will and Theism: Connections, Contingencies, and
Concerns, eds. Kevin Timpe and Daniel Speak (Oxford: Oxford University Press),
forthcoming.
3.
“Conscious Gestalts, Apposite Responses and Libertarian Freedom,” in Libertarian
Free Will and the Law: New Essays, eds. Michael Sevel and Allan McCay (Ashgate),
forthcoming.
4.
“Religion on the Cheap,” Oxford Studies in the Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 6 (2015):
87-113.
5.
“Rational Abilities and Responsibility,” Philosophy and Phenomenological
Research, Vol. 86, no. 2 (2013): 459-466.
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6.
“A Christian Theodicy,” in The Blackwell Companion to the Problem of Evil, eds.
Daniel Howard-Snyder and Justin McBrayer (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell,
2013), pp. 266-280.
7.
“Liars, Medicine, and Compassion,” The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Vol.
37, no. 2 (2012): 159-180.
8.
“Free Will Is Not a Mystery,” in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, second
edition, ed. Robert Kane (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 366-380.
9.
“Ambivalence and Authentic Agency,” Ratio 23, no. 4 (December 2010): 374-392.
Reprinted in Agents and Their Actions (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), pp. 20-38.
10. “Volition and the Will,” in The Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Action,
eds. Timothy O’Connor and Constantine Sandis (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), pp. 99107.
11. “Alienation, Autonomy, and the Self,” Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Vol. 29
(2005): 45-67.
12. “Autonomy and Personal Integration,” in Personal Autonomy: New Essays on
Autonomy and Its Role in Contemporary Moral Philosophy, ed. James S. Taylor
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 143-161.
13. “Inviting Sex,” Public Affairs Quarterly, Vol. 18, no. 3 (July 2004): 187-204.
14. “Suffering as Religious Experience,” in Christian Faith and the Problem of Evil,
ed. Peter van Inwagen (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Press, 2004), pp. 95-110.
Reprinted in Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, eds. Michael Rea and Louis
Pojman, sixth edition (Wadsworth, 2012), pp. 392 – 401.
15. “Free Will, Chance, and Mystery,” Philosophical Studies, Vol. 113 (March, 2003):
153-180.
16. “Libertarianism and Frankfurt-Style Cases,” in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will,
first edition, ed. Robert Kane (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 309322.
17. “Indeterminist Free Action,” in L. Ekstrom, ed., Agency and Responsibility: Essays
on the Metaphysics of Freedom (Boulder: Westview, 2001), pp. 138-157.
18. “Introduction,” in L. Ekstrom, ed., Agency and Responsibility: Essays on the
Metaphysics of Freedom (Boulder: Westview, 2001).
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19. “Keystone Preferences and Autonomy,” Philosophy and Phenomenological
Research Vol. 59, No. 4 (December, 1999): 1057-1063.
20. “Protecting Incompatibilist Freedom,” American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 35,
No. 3, (July, 1998): 281-291.
21. “Freedom, Causation, and the Consequence Argument,” Synthese, Vol. 115, No. 3
(June, 1998): 333-354.
22. “Causes and Nested Counterfactuals,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 73,
No. 4, (December, 1995): 574-578.
23. “A Coherence Theory of Autonomy,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research,
Vol. 53, No. 3 (September, 1993): 599 - 616.
Reviews of Books:
1.
Review of Free Will and Luck, by Alfred Mele. Philosophical Books, Vol. 49, No.
1 (January, 2008): 71-73.
2.
Book note on The Natural Selection of Autonomy, by Bruce N. Waller. Ethics, Vol.
110, No. 1 (October, 1999): 256-257. (invited)
3.
Review of The Theory and Practice of Autonomy, by Gerald Dworkin. The
Philosophical Review, Vol.102, No. 4 (October, 1993): 616-619.
Work in Progress:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Book manuscript on free agency.
Commissioned chapter on free will for Reason and Responsibility, ed. Russ ShaferLandau (Wadsworth).
“In Defense of An Event-Causal Indeterminist Account of Free Will,” article for
Synthese special volume on indeterminism and free will.
Talk for the Butler Society, Oriel College, Oxford University, October 2015.
Talk for the Pacific APA symposium on Derk Pereboom’s book, Free Will, Agency,
and Meaning in Life, San Francisco, CA, April 2016.
“Compassion in Medicine,” for The Moral Psychology of Compassion, ed. Justin
Caouette (Rowman & Littlefield).
“Forgiveness & the Emotions,” for the Wiley Companion to Free Will, ed. Joseph
Campbell (Wiley).
Professional Presentations:
1.
May 7, 2015: “Comments on ‘Religious Experience Without Belief? Faith,
Imagination, and Emotion’ by Amber Griffioen” Logos Workshop on Religious
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Experience, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN (invited).
2.
September 26, 2014: “Commentary on Alvin Plantinga’s ‘Law, Cause, and
Occasionalism’,” Faith and Reason: Themes from Swinburne Conference, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, IN (invited).
3.
August 5, 2014: “Would God Create Beings With Libertarian Free Will?” Conference
on Divine Action, University of Innsbruck, Austria (peer reviewed).
4.
April 23, 2014: “Libertarianism, Luck, and Value,” Center for the Philosophy of
Freedom, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ (invited).
5.
March 7, 2014: “Hope for Free Will Libertarianism?” Freedom, Determinism, and
Responsibility Conference, The Queen’s College, Oxford University, England
(invited).
6.
May 10, 2013: “Religion on the Cheap,” Logos Workshop on Theological Realism
and Theological Anti-Realism, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN (invited).
7.
November 9, 2012: “The Cost of Freedom,” Baylor-Georgetown-Notre Dame
Philosophy of Religion Conference, San Antonio, TX (invited).
8.
April 20, 2012: “Evil, God, and Love,” Department of Philosophy, Virginia
Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA (invited).
9.
November 18, 2011: “Luck and Human Agency,” Department of Philosophy
Colloquium Series, University of Virginia (invited).
10. October 8, 2011: “Commentary on Dana Nelkin’s ‘Forgiveness and Free Will’,”
Bowdoin College, Conference on Free Will, Brunswick, Maine (invited).
11. April 9, 2011: “The Nature of the Will,” Conference on The Will: Past and Present,
University of Southampton, England, UK (invited).
12. October 23, 2010: “Accounting for Luck,” Keynote Address, Virginia Philosophical
Association, Marymount University, Arlington, VA (invited).
13. March 31, 2010: “What Is the Will?” Pacific Division Meetings of the American
Philosophical Association, read in absentia by Julie Tannenbaum, comments by
Tamar Shapiro, San Francisco, CA (peer reviewed).
14. October 31, 2008: “The Role of Will in Free Will Theory,” Mind, Body and Free Will
Conference, University of California, Riverside, Department of Philosophy (peer
reviewed).
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15. July 9, 2007: “Libertarian Agent Control,” Joint Sessions of the Aristotelian Society
and the Mind Association, University of Bristol, England, UK (peer reviewed).
16. April 29, 2006: “Compassion, Autonomy, and Respect,” Central Division Meetings of
the American Philosophical Association, Chicago, IL (invited).
17. March 24, 2006: “A Disease of the Mind,” Department of Philosophy, Virginia
Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA (invited).
18. March 14, 2006: “Ambivalence, Coherence, and Autonomy,” Department of
Philosophy, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (invited).
19. November 18, 2003: “Autonomy and Personal Integration,” Department of
Philosophy, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA (invited).
20. October 18, 2002: “Abortion and Fetal Invitation,” Virginia Philosophical
Association, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA (invited).
21. September 13, 2002: “Free Will, Chance, and Mystery,” Persons and Freedom
Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (peer reviewed).
22. January 19, 2002: “Free Will, Chance, and Mystery,” Causation and Free Will
Conference, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (invited).
23. November 10, 2000: “Autonomy and Victimization,” Philosophy Department,
William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA (invited).
24. May 23, 2000: “Suffering as Religious Experience,” God and Evil Conference,
Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI (invited).
25. April 7, 2000: “Responsibility and Moderate Reasons-responsiveness,” Author Meets
Critics session on Responsibility and Control by John Martin Fischer and Mark
Ravizza, Pacific Division Meetings, American Philosophical Association,
Albuquerque, NM (invited).
26. January 21, 2000: “Indeterminism in Human Agency,” Department of Philosophy,
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (invited).
27. November 12, 1999: “Event-Causal Libertarian Theory,” Department of Philosophy,
Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, VA (invited).
28. March 6, 1999: “Indeterminist Free Action,” Mid-South Philosophy Conference,
University of Memphis, Memphis, TN (peer reviewed).
29. February 11, 1999: “Freedom and Indeterminism,” Department of Philosophy,
Davidson College, Davidson, NC (invited).
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30. February 13, 1998: “Free Will and Significance,” Department of Philosophy, Calvin
College, Grand Rapids, MI (invited).
31. January, 1998: “God and Evil,” Department of Philosophy, William & Mary,
Williamsburg, VA (invited).
32. December, 1996: “Lehrer on Keystone Preferences,” Eastern Division Meetings,
American Philosophical Association, Atlanta, GA (invited).
33. May, 1995: “Knowledge and Social Norms,” Maine Philosophical Institute,
Lewiston, ME (peer reviewed).
34. March, 1994: “Comments on ‘Causation and Causal Direction’ by Kadri Vihvelin,”
Pacific Division Meetings, American Philosophical Association, Los Angeles, CA
(invited).
35. February, 1993: “A Coherence Theory of Autonomy,” Department of Philosophy,
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (invited).
36. January, 1993: “Causation, Counterfactuals, and Freedom,” Department of
Philosophy, Bates College, Lewiston, ME (invited).
37. January, 1993: “Causation, Counterfactuals, and Freedom,” Department of
Philosophy, Denison University, Denison, OH (invited).
38. January, 1993: “Causation, Counterfactuals, and Freedom,” Department of
Philosophy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA (invited).
39. December, 1992: “Toward a Libertarian Theory of Freedom,” Department of
Philosophy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (invited).
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
William and Mary, Department of Philosophy:
Interim Department Chair, July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015.
Department Chair, July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2013.
Curriculum Committee Member, 1998-2002; 2007-9; 2013- 2014.
Budget Committee Member, 2007-10; 2013- 2014.
Chair, Senior Search Committee, 2011-12.
Chair, Junior Search Committee, 2011-12.
Chair, Junior Search Committee, 2010 – 2011.
Senior Recruitment Committee Member, 2009 – 2010.
Chair, Department Faculty Affairs Committee, 2008 – 2009.
Junior Recruitment Committee Member, 2008 – 2009.
Senior Recruitment Committee Member, 2008 – 2009.
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Chair, Department Faculty Affairs Committee, 2007 – 2008.
Senior Honors Thesis (Philosophy) Committee Member, 2008.
Miller Writing Award Selection Committee, 2007, 2008.
Senior Recruitment Committee Member, 2007 – 2008.
Recruitment Committee Member, 2006 – 2007.
Chair, Tenure Committee, 2006 – 2007.
Recruitment Committee Member, 2005 – 2006.
Post-tenure Review Committee Member, 2003 – 2004.
Recruitment Committee Member, 2003 – 2004.
Post-tenure Review Committee Member, 2002 – 2003.
Recruitment Committee Member, 2001 – 2002.
Tenure Committee Member, 2001 – 2002.
Chair, Post-Tenure Review Committee, 2000 – 2002.
Chair, 2nd Post-Tenure Review Committee, 2000 – 2002.
Grade Review Committee, 2001.
Senior Honors Thesis (Philosophy) Committee Member, 2000.
Departmental Swem Library Liaison, 1999 – 2000.
Senior Honors Thesis (Philosophy) Committee Member, 1999.
William and Mary, University-wide:
Co-Organizer, Conference in Honor of Alan Goldman, 2015.
Faculty Mentor, New W&M Faculty in the Humanities, 2014 – 2015.
Member, Class of 2018 Faculty Award Selection Committee, Arts & Sciences, 2014.
Chair, Class of 2017 Faculty Award Selection Committee, Arts & Sciences, 2013.
Co-Chair, Search Committee for the Dean of Arts & Sciences, 2011 – 2012.
Member, Council of Chairs and Program Directors, 2010 – 2013, 2014 – 2015.
Alternate Member, Procedural Review Committee, 2010 – 2014.
Faculty Pre-Major Advisor and Advisor to Transfer Students, 2000-2001, 2006 –
2009, 2012 – present.
Faculty Advisor, Senior Honors Thesis, 2011-12.
Faculty Advisor, Independent Study, Spring 2011.
Host Institution Conference Organizer, Virginia Philosophical Association, 2011.
Member, CADEAU Chairs Workshop, 2010 – 2011.
Member, Procedural Review Committee, 2007 – 2009.
Faculty Advisor, Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Research Project, 2009.
Faculty Advisor, Undergraduate Reading Group, Summers 2008 and 2009.
Faculty Advisor, Independent Study, Philosophy of Action, Summer 2009.
Faculty Advisor, Senior Honors Thesis, 2006 – 2007.
General Education Review Committee, 2006.
Dean of Arts & Sciences, Faculty Awards Committee, Spring 2004.
Senior Honors Thesis (Psychology) Committee Member, 2000.
Faculty Advisor, Undergraduate Philosophy Majors, 1998 – present.
Faculty Advisor, Chappell Undergraduate Summer Research Project, 1999.
Bates College:
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President’s Faculty Advisory Committee, 1994 – 1996.
Department of Philosophy Recruitment Committee: 1996 – 1997.
Faculty Advisor, Freshmen and Undergraduate Majors, 1994 – 1998.
Honors Thesis Committees, 1994 – 1998.
External Professional Service:
Reviewer, book manuscripts and edited collection proposals: Cambridge University
Press, M.I.T. Press, Westview Press, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Oxford
University Press.
Reviewer, journal articles: Mind; Noûs; Philosophical Studies; Philosophy and
Phenomenological Research; Ethics; The Journal of Ethics; Ethical Theory and
Moral Practice; American Philosophical Quarterly; The Philosophical Quarterly;
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly; Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
Editorial Advisory Board Member, The Journal of Analytic Theology, 2012 –
present.
Chair, Eastern APA-SCP Committee, 2014 – present.
Nominating Committee Member, Society of Christian Philosophers, 2012 – 14.
Board of Directors, Williamsburg Ballet and the Institute for Dance, 2006 – 2010.
Executive Committee Member, Society of Christian Philosophers, 2001 –
2004; 2008 – 2011.
Founding Board Member, Jamestown Classical Enrichment, 2005 - 2007.
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