Paul Draper

Paul Draper was hired as Professor of Philosophy in 2006 to replace William L. Rowe.  Prior to that, he taught at Florida International University in Miami, after receiving his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of California, Irvine.  Why switch to Purdue mid-career?  After growing up in Southern California and living in South Florida for 20 years, he grew tired of paradise, deciding to give Indiana a try.  His areas of specialization include philosophy of religion, confirmation theory, and probabilistic reasoning, but clearly not decision theory. 

Draper is currently finishing up a book called Atheism and the Problem of Evil and plans a second book on panpsychotheism if he lives long enough.  (He has been “working” on the first book for decades.)  Along the way, he has managed to publish in such journals as Nous, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, American Philosophical Quarterly, Faith and Philosophy, the Monist, and Philosophy of Science on such topics as the problem of evil, probabilistic arguments for multiple universes, design arguments, alternative concepts of God, the requirement of total evidence, David Hume’s philosophy of religion, and the problem of bias in philosophy of religion. 

In his spare time, Draper likes to spend time with his family (a wife, a daughter, and a cat), cook, pretend he can still play basketball, and watch YouTube videos (and occasionally read books) on a variety of topics, including paleoanthropology and the historical Jesus.  He is also a devoted fan of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat.