About Me

Hello, my name is William Vanderburgh.

I am a Professor of Philosophy at California State University, San Bernardino. I earned my PhD at the University of Western Ontario, where I had a dual focus on “HPS” (the History and Philosophy of Science) and on the History of Philosophy. I am the author of an academic book and fourteen peer reviewed articles, co-author of a logic textbook, and winner of a national award for my craft beer blog. (I wrote over 300 posts for my beer blog, visited every brewery and tasting room in San Diego County, then sold it at the beginning of the pandemic. Some of the content has been repurposed and still appears on beermaverick.com.)

I was the first philosopher to write about the dark matter problem in astrophysics. My book David Hume on Miracles, Evidence, and Probability (Lexington Books, 2019) defends Hume’s argument against believing in miracles in part by showing that Hume’s theory of probability derives from ancient Roman legal theory.

I have been lucky to be able to teach a really broad set of courses: from philosophy science, history of philosophy, critical thinking and logic, to environmental philosophy, philosophy in science fiction, philosophy in video games, ethics, and philosophy of religion.

I live with my wife and step-daughter in San Diego, where I race sailboats, take photographs, and enjoy world class craft beer (occasionally all at the same time!). All the photographs on this site are my own—except for the book covers of other people’s books, of course.

You can find more about me on personal page, williamvanderburgh.com, including details about my research in philosophy of science, history of philosophy, and philosophy of religion. And I post more of my photography there, too. I’m on Instagram @BillVinSD and on Twitter @VanderburghBill.