Curriculum Vitae

(Abbreviated)

RICO VITZ
Azusa Pacific University
Department of Philosophy
901 E. Alosta Avenue
Azusa, CA 91702-7000

Office Phone: 626.815.5813

E-mail: rvitz@apu.edu
Home Page: sites.google.com/site/ricovitz
Updated: January 2015

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
THE HUME SOCIETY
Executive Vice President-Treasurer, 2014-Present
AZUSA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
Associate Professor of Philosophy, 2011-Present
Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, 2005-6
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, 2006-2011
EDUCATION
PH.D. PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE, 2006
Dissertation: Virtuous Belief: Descartes, Hume, and the Proper Method of Belief Formation
Advisor: Paul Hoffman
M.S.

PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, 2000

Thesis: The Contemporary Relevance of Hume's Moral Psychology
Advisor: Don Garrett

B.A.

PHILOSOPHY, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, DOMINGUEZ HILLS, 1996

RESEARCH INTERESTS
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
Early Modern Philosophy:

Descartes, Hume

Ethics:

History of Ethics, Virtue, Moral Psychology

Philosophy of Religion:

Psychology/Epistemology, Orthodox Christianity

PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Reforming the Art of Living: Nature, Virtue, and Religion in Descartes's Epistemology (Springer,
2015).
The Ethics of Belief: Individual and Social, co-edited with Jon Matheson (Oxford UP, 2014).

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PUBLICATIONS (CONTINUED)
BOOKS (CONTINUED)
Turning East: Contemporary Philosophers and the Ancient Christian Faith, edited (St. Vladimir's
Seminary Press, 2012).
Review: Christoph Schneider, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (5 Oct 2013)
Interview: Conversations on Orthodoxy, Episode 9 (4 Jan 2014)
JOURNAL, SPECIAL EDITION (EDITED)
Ethical and Religious Themes in Humean Philosophy, Res Philosophica 92:3 (forthcoming)
ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
The Nature and Functions of Sympathy in Hume's Philosophy, in The Oxford Handbook of David
Hume, ed. Paul Russell (Oxford UP, in press).
Contagion, Community, and Virtue in Hume's Epistemology, in The Ethics of Belief: Individual
and Social, eds. Jon Matheson and Rico Vitz (Oxford UP, 2014).
Introduction (with Jon Matheson), in The Ethics of Belief: Individual and Social, eds. Jon
Matheson and Rico Vitz (Oxford UP, 2014).
Natural Law among Moral Strangers (with Boaz Goss), Christian Bioethics 20 (August 2014): 283300.
Plato's Republic, in Twelve Great Books, eds. Don Thorsen and Steve Wilkens (Cascade Books,
2014).
A Road from Rome through Antioch, in Turning East: Contemporary Philosophers and the
Ancient Christian Faith (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2012).
Thomas More and the Christian 'Superstition': A Puzzle for Hume's Psychology of Religious
Belief, The Modern Schoolman 88 (July/October 2011): 223244.
Descartes and the Question of Direct Doxastic Voluntarism, Journal of Philosophical Research 35
(September 2010): 107-21.
Doxastic Virtues in Hume's Epistemology, Hume Studies 35 (November 2009): 211-29.
Doxastic Voluntarism, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, eds. James Fieser and Bradley
Dowden, February 2008.
Sympathy and Benevolence in Hume's Moral Psychology, Journal of the History of Philosophy 42
(July 2004): 261-75.
Hume and the Limits of Benevolence, Hume Studies 28 (November 2002): 271-95.

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PUBLICATIONS (CONTINUED)
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of At the Roots of Christian Bioethics, edited by Ana Smith Iltis and Mark J. Cherry,
HealthCare Ethics Committee Forum, January 2011.
Review of Spectres of False Divinity: Hume's Moral Atheism, by Thomas Holden, Notre Dame
Philosophical Reviews, October 2010.
Review of Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel Dennett, Faith and
Philosophy, January 2010.
Review of The Riddle of Hume's Treatise: Skepticism, Naturalism, and Irreligion, by Paul Russell,
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, July 2008.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
PAPERS
Ancient Christian Religious Epistemology: Traditional Fidelity, Philosophical Humility, and
Mystical Aspiration, under review.
'Perverted', 'Diseased', and 'Disordered': Teleology in Hume's Ethics? in draft.
Situationism, Skepticism, and Asceticism, in draft.
HONORS AND AWARDS
RESEARCH
Emerging Scholar Award, APU, 2013-4
NEH Summer Stipend, Hume's Psychology of Religious Belief, 2008
Chancellor's Distinguished Fellowship, UCR, 2000-4
TEACHING
Mentor of the Year (nominee), UNF, 2010-11
Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, UNF 2009-10
- Finalist: 2008-09; Nominee: 2010-11
Mentor TA, TA Development Program, UCR, 2004-5
Teaching Excellence Award, UCR, 2001-2
Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award (nominee), Utah, 1999-2000
Outstanding First-Year TA, Utah, 1998-9

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RESEARCH LANGUAGES
Latin, French
COURSES TAUGHT
GRADUATE
Passion and Value
Lies and Self-Deception
Virtues: Classic and Modern

Fa 10
Fa 09, Fa 07
Sp 09

UNDERGRADUATE
Seminar: Hume
Ethics
Social and Applied Ethics (Seminar)
Introduction to Philosophy
Modern Philosophy
Love and Friendship (Seminar)
Virtue Ethics and Moral Psychology
Formal Logic
Religion and Enlightenment
Passion and Value
Reason and Religion
Virtues: Classic and Modern
Lies and Self-Deception
Hume on Religion (Seminar)
Theories of Tolerance
Concepts of Human Nature
Reasoning and Critical Thinking
Science and Religion
Contemporary Moral Issues
Introduction to Formal Logic

Sp 15
Fa 14, Fa 13, Sp 13, Fa 11, Fa 05
Fa 14, Fa 13, Fa 12, Fa 11
Fa 14, Fa 13, Sp 13, Fa 12, numerous other times
Sp 15, Sp 14, Fa 12, Sp 11, five other times
Sp 14
Sp 12
Fa 11, Sp 06, Sp 04
Sp 11
Fa 10
Sp 10
Sp 09
Fa 09, Fa 07
Fa 08
Fa 06
Fa 04
Fa 09, Sp 09, six other times
Sp 08
Su 05, Su 02
Su 04, Sp 02

INDEPENDENT STUDIES
Eastern Philosophy: Near and Far
Moral Psychology: Desire
Social and Applied Ethics
Modern Political Philosophy: Hobbes
Medieval Religion: Maimonides' Guide
Religious Epistemology
Medieval Religion: Aquinas's Summa Theologica
Aristotle East and West
Aristotle and Hume: Ethics
Hume and Kant: Epistemology

Sp 15 (Undergraduate)
Fa 14 (Undergraduate)
Sp 14, Fa 10, Sp 10, Fa 09 (Undergraduate)
Fa 09 (Undergraduate)
Fa 09 (Undergraduate)
Su 09 (Undergraduate)
Sp 09 (Undergraduate)
Fa 08 (Undergraduate)
Sp 08 (Undergraduate)
Fa 07 (Graduate)

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REFERENCES
Don Garrett
Professor Philosophy
New York University
Department of Philosophy
Silver Center, Rm. 503
100 Washington Square East
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-8325
don.garrett@nyu.edu

H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.

Professor of Philosophy
Rice University
Department of Philosophy MS 14
6100 South Main Street
Houston, Texas 77005-1892
htengelh@rice.edu

Janet Broughton
Professor of Philosophy
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
University of California
Department of Philosophy
314 Moses Hall 2390
Berkeley, CA 94720-2390
(510) 642-2722
broughton@berkeley.edu

Gary Watson
Provost Professor of Philosophy and Law
University of Southern California
Department of Philosophy
Mudd Hall
3709 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0451
(213) 740-4085
glwatson@usc.edu

Peter Graham
Professor of Philosophy
Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs
University of California
Department of Philosophy
900 University Avenue
Riverside, CA
(510) 642-2722
peterg@ucr.edu