Dr Thom Atkinson BA, MA, PhD

My current primary area of research is modal epistemology (especially modal scepticism). In particular, I am seeking to defend a version of, what I call, 'restricted modal scepticism'. The version of restricted modal scepticism that I seek to defend is the version that says that we should not take ourselves to be prima facie justified in asserting certain exotic modal propositions. Modal propositions that regularly feature in philosophical arguments for controversial theses. Propositions like the following: there might there exist a being that is psychologically and functionally identical to me but that lacks phenomenal consciousness, God might resurrect human organisms.

My research interests include metaphysics (especially the ontology of human persons). At present I am trying to develop a coherent version of composite substance dualism. This version of substance dualism says that we are a composite of matter and an immaterial soul but that we are capable of surviving the destruction of our bodies.

My research interests include the Philosophy of Religion (especially life after death and the resurrection). In my PhD thesis I defended the thesis that it is not reasonable to believe in life after death given animalism (the view that we are wholly material human organisms). I defended this thesis to undercut christian physicalism. Christian physicalists believe that we are wholly material beings but that we will live again at some time after the destruction of our bodies. I think that the most reasonable physicalist ontology is animalism, but that the belief that we survive our deaths is unreasonable if one believes animalism.