about me

I am a full Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Cognitive Science Program at Marist University in Poughkeepsie, New York. 

My research has most recently focused on the ontology of causal powers and the applications of the powers metaphysic for work on questions in the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of agency, and the philosophy of religion. 

I am presently working on three major projects on the metaphysics of agency, metaphysics of mind, and the metaphysics of the divine. In the metaphysics of agency, I am developing a revision of the standard story of agency that incorporates a powers-in-process model of causation for conceiving of intentional agency. In the metaphysics of mind, I am working with Yanssel Garcia on a series of papers and a monograph that involves developing a physicalist-panpsychist metaphysic of mind that builds upon an ontology of properties understood as powerful qualities. Finally, in the metaphysics of the divine, I am working on applying a powers ontology to developing a pantheistic metaphysic of the divine. Work on the second and third projects builds on work that was part of the Pantheism and Panentheism Project funded by the John Templeton Foundation (my co-investigator was Yujin Nagasawa of the University of Birmingham) and another Templeton-funded project on which I am presently the co-investigator with Philip Goff on Panpsychism and Pan(en)theism: Philosophy of Mind Meets Philosophy of Religion.

In addition to the foregoing research areas, I also have  research interests in the metaphysics of causation. Most recently, I have begun doing research on both the metaphysics of race and ethnicity and racial cognition.

I live in Ulster County in the Mid-Hudson Valley region of New York State with my spouse, son, and six cats. My parents are both from Latin America (Paraguay and Puerto Rico).  My formative years were spent in Alaska and California. When not doing philosophy, I enjoy brewing beer, hiking with my family, mountain biking, reading popular science and science fiction, gaming with my son, skateboarding, and snowboarding.