Laura P. Guerrero
William & Mary
Department of Philosophy
250 James Blair Drive ∙ Williamsburg, VA 23185
Areas of Specialization
Buddhist Philosophy
Areas of Teaching Competence
Indian Philosophy, Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind, Ethics
Education
Ph.D. Philosophy, University of New Mexico. 2013
M.A. Philosophy, University of Hawai′i at Mānoa. 2005
B.A. Philosophy, Willamette University. 2000
Employment
Associate Professor, Philosophy Department, William & Mary, Summer 2025 - Present
Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, William & Mary, Fall 2020 - Summer 2025
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy & Humanities, Utah Valley University, Fall 2013 – Spring 2020
PUBLICATIONS - PEER-REVIEWED
Journal Articles
2025. “Buddhist Fundamental Ontology.” Philosophy East and West. 75 (2): 261–284.
2024. “A Defense against Nāgārjuna’s Causal Arguments for Emptiness.” Journal of Buddhist Philosophy. 6 (1): 1–23.
2023. “Ontological Pluralism and the Buddhist Two Truths.” Asian Journal of Philosophy. 2:41.
2023. “Being Conventionally Real: A Buddhist Account of a Degenerate Mode of Being.” Asian Journal of Philosophy. 2 (35):1–19.
2023. “Ontological Pluralism in Abhidharma Debates About the Existence of Past and Future Dharmas.” Philosophy East and West. 73:2 (2023): 264–85.
2019. “Don’t Stop Believing: An Argument Against Buddhist Skepticism.” Comparative Philosophy. 10 (2): 88–99.
2018. “Buddhist Global Fictionalism?” Ratio special issue “Cross-Cultural Approaches to Mind and Language.” Eds. David Oderberg and Shalini Sinha.13 (4): 424–36.
2015. “Buddhist Naturalism Conventionalized: A Critical Review of Christian Coseru’s Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy.” Journal of Consciousness Studies. 22 (9-10): 25–38.
Book Chapters
2023. “Buddhist Reductionism, Fictionalism, and Expressibility.” Reasons and Empty Persons: Mind, Metaphysics, and Morality. Ed. Christian Coseru. New York: Springer Publications.
2015. “Conventional Truth and Intentionality in the Work of Dharmakīrti.” The Moon Points Back. Ed. Koji Tanaka, Yasuo Deguchi, Jay L. Garfield, and Graham Priest. New York: Oxford University Press, 189–219.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Journal Articles
2021. “Free To Be You and Me: Cosmopolitanism, Pluralism, and Buddhist Modernism.” APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies. 20(2): 26–9.
Book Chapters
2019. “The East in the West: Chinese, Japanese, and Indian Philosophy in the Twentieth Century.” Co-authored with Leah Kalmanson & Sarah Mattice. The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945-2015. Ed. Kelly Becker and Iain Thomson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 692–708. I wrote the section on Indian philosophy and co-wrote the introduction and conclusion.
Book Reviews
2022. Book Review of Illuminating The Mind: An Introduction to Buddhist Epistemology by Jonathan Stoltz. Philosophy East and West. 72 (2): 1–5.
2015. Book Review of Indian Buddhist Philosophy by Amber D. Carpenter. H-Buddhism by H-Net. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=42435
PRESENTATIONS
Conference Presentations
“That’s What I Meant: Madhyamaka, Meaning, and Truth.” Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, International Society for Buddhist Philosophy, April 4th-8th, 2023. San Francisco, California. Upcoming. Main Program.
“Dharmakīrti’s Conventional Pramāṇavāda.” 6th International Dharmakīrti Conference. August 22-26, 2022. Seoul, South Korea.
“Abhidharma and Ontological Pluralism: Are Conventional Objects Real?” 18th Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, August 16–21, 2022. Seoul, Korea.
“Ontological Pluralism and the Buddhist Two Truths.” Underwood International College, Yonsei University. Seoul, Korea. Invited talk. December 7, 2021. Zoom. Honorarium 150,000 KRW (approx. $128.50).
“Are Conventional Entities Real? Ontological Pluralism in Abhidharma Debates About What Exists.” Cornell University, Society for Buddhist Studies. Invited talk. September 24, 2021. Zoom.
“Interfaith Methodology As A Path For Inclusion.” Pluralisms: Engaging Ethical, Racial, and Religious Diversity Conference, Utah Valley University Center for the Study of Ethics. September 29, 2020. Zoom.
“Can A Buddhist Be A Skeptic?”. Comments on Ethan Mills’ Three Pillars Skepticism In Classical India. Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Author-Meets-Critics, April 17-20, 2019. Vancouver, BC.
“Realism, Anti-Realism, and the Two Truths.” Indian Philosophy Workshop & Discussion, hosted by San Jose State University. December 7, 2018. San Francisco, CA.
“Buddhist Pan-Metaphoricalism, Fictionalism, and Meaning.” International Seminar in Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sister Nivedita, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata, India. January 4, 2018.
“Buddhist Pan-Metaphoricalism, Fictionalism, and Meaning.” Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Panel: Doubting, Fashioning and Enjoying (Conventional) Reality: Skepticism, Fictionalism and Eudaimonism in Indian Buddhist Thought. American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting. November 18, 2017. Boston, MA.
“Buddhist Fictionalism Reconsidered.” Buddhism’s Engagement with the World Conference. April 21 – 22, 2017. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.
“Fictionalism and the Buddhist Two Truths.” Book Symposium: Mark Siderits, Studies in Buddhist Philosophy. Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, April 12–15, 2017. Seattle, WA.
“Buddhist Fictionalism Reconsidered.” APA Committee Session: Dealing with the Unreal. Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, April 12–15, 2017. Seattle, WA.
“Dharmakīrti’s Pragmatism Revisited.” International Society for Buddhist Philosophy, Eastern Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, January 6–9, 2016. Washington, D.C..
“The Place of Reality and the Reality of Place: Ramifications of Buddhist Conventionalism about Reality.” 11th Annual East-West Philosophers’ Conference, May 25–31, 2016. Honolulu, HI.
“Dharmakīrti’s Pragmatism Revisited” Eastern Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, International Society of Buddhist Philosophy, January 6 – 9th, 2015. Washington, D.C..
“Comments on Christian Coseru’s Perceiving Reality: Consciousness, Intentionality, and Cognition in Buddhist Philosophy.” Pacific Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Author-Meets-Critics, April 1–4, 2015. Vancouver, BC.
“Pramāṇa as Conventional Truth in the Work of Dharmakīrti.” 5th International Dharmakīrti Conference. August 25–30, 2014. Heidelberg, Germany.
“The Epistemology of Emptiness: Dharmakīrti’s Yogācāra Response to the Problem of Conventional Truth in Mahāyāna.” 17th Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, August 18–23, 2014. Vienna, Austria.
“Buddhism and the Hard Problem of Consciousness.” Intermountain Philosophy Conference, November 8, 2013. Utah Valley University, Orem, UT.
“The Role of Vāsanā in Determining Perceptual Content in the Work of Dharmakīrti.” Harvard University Workshop on Mind and Attention in Indian Philosophy, September 21–22, 2013, Cambridge, MA.
Invited Lectures
TBA. Binghamton University, September 8, 2023.
“Buddhist Conventional Truth and Ontological Pluralism.” Columbia University, September 30, 2022.
“Fictionalism or Ontological Pluralism?: Question of the status of conventional truth in Abhidharma.” Cornell University, September 24, 2021. Zoom.
“Early Buddhist Metaphysics and the Two Truths.” University of California at Berkeley Center for Buddhist Studies. November 5, 2020. Berkeley, CA. Zoom.
PRESS
Interview with William & Mary press. January 14, 2022. https://news.wm.edu/2022/01/14/faculty-member-brings-new-specialties-to-wm-philosophy-department/
Article. Buddhist Door Global. January 18, 2022. https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/new-hire-brings-inclusive-offerings-to-william-mary-philosophy-faculty-as-college-celebrates-asian-centennial/
COURSES
William & Mary
The Human Self
Mind, Meaning, and Morality
Philosophy Across Cultures
Special Topics in Metaphysics and Epistemology: Buddhist Metaphysics
Utah Vally University
Ancient Legacies
Ethics and Values
Introduction to Eastern Religions
Introduction to Philosophy
Reasoning and Critical Thinking
Buddhist Philosophy
Indian Philosophy