Bio
Dr. Adam Pelser is Professor of Philosophy at the United States Air Force Academy. He earned his MA in religion from Wake Forest University and his MA and PhD in philosophy from Baylor University. Before joining the faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy, he held positions at the University of Oklahoma and Wake Forest University.
Dr. Pelser has won numerous awards for his teaching and research. In addition to his regular teaching of USAFA’s core courses in Ethics and Comparative Religion, he has designed and taught courses on the Philosophy of Love and Sex, Business Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, and more. In 2023, he was named an Inaugural Fellow of the Inklings Project on the basis of his development and teaching of a popular course on C.S. Lewis and Philosophy.
He publishes in the areas of ethics, moral psychology, philosophy of religion, and philosophical theology. He has published over two dozen essays in peer-reviewed academic journals or edited volumes and he is co-editor of the book, Faith & Virtue Formation: Christian Philosophy in Aid of Becoming Good (Oxford University Press, 2021). Throughout his writing and teaching, he seeks to use philosophy to inform and inspire virtue formation. He is also particularly interested in defending the possibility of moral knowledge today and understanding the role that emotions play in the perception, understanding, and knowledge of objective moral truths.
Education
Ph.D., Philosophy, Baylor University, Texas (2011)
(Dissertation: Emotion, Evaluative Perception, and Epistemic Goods. Director: Robert C. Roberts)
Master of Arts, Philosophy, Baylor University, Texas (2009)
Master of Arts, Religion, Wake Forest University, North Carolina. (2007)
Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy, Biola University, California (2003)
Professional Experience
Professor of Philosophy, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2021–present)
Associate Professor of Philosophy, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2016–2021)
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2013–2016)
Teacher-Scholar Post-doctoral Fellow, The Character Project, Department of Philosophy, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (2012–2013)
Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma (2011–2012)
Honors & Awards
Inaugural Fellow of the Inklings Project (2023-2024)
U.S. Air Force Academy 3-Star-General Performance Award (2021)
Research Award from the Dallas Willard Research Center in the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture at Westmont College (2020)
Theology and the Morally Exceptional Grant Recipient, The Beacon Project (Templeton Religion Trust) (2016)
U.S. Air Force Academy Outstanding Academy Educator Award (2015)
Res Philosophica Virtue and the Emotions Essay Prize Winner (2015)
Publications
Books
Faith & Virtue Formation: Christian Philosophy in Aid of Becoming Good, co-edited with W. Scott Cleveland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).
Selected Articles and Book Chapters
“‘Take Heart’: The Confident Hope of Christian Courage,” in The Virtue of Courage, ed. Blaine Fowers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
“Living Honorably,” with co-author Mark Jensen, Journal of Character and Leadership Development 9, 1 (2022): 25–33.
“Fostering Respect in the Military,” Journal of Military Ethics 20 (2021): 281–292.
“Temptation, Virtue, and the Character of Christ,” Faith and Philosophy 36, 1 (2019): 81–101.
“Emotions, Character, and Associationist Psychology,” with co-author Robert C. Roberts, Journal of Moral Philosophy 14, 6 (2017): 623–645.
“Philosophy in The Abolition of Man,” in Contemporary Perspectives on C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man: History, Philosophy, Education, and Science, ed. Timothy M. Mosteller and Gayne John Anacker (London: Bloomsbury Press, 2017), 5–24.
“Religious Value and Moral Psychology,” with co-author Robert C. Roberts, in Handbook of Value: Perspectives from Economics, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology, ed. Tobias Brosch and David Sander (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 375–394.
“Respect for Human Dignity as an Emotion and Virtue,” Res Philosophica special issue on Virtue and the Emotions 92, 4 (2015): 743–763.
“Perceiving God through Natural Beauty,” with co-author Ryan West, Faith and Philosophy 32, 3 (2015): 293–312.
“Emotion, Evaluative Perception, and Epistemic Justification,” in Emotion and Value, ed. Sabine Roeser and Cain Todd (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 106–122.
“Belief in Reid's Theory of Perception,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 27, 4 (2010): 359–378.
Selected Book Reviews
Review of Nathan L. King, The Excellent Mind: Intellectual Virtues for Everyday Life (Oxford University Press, 2021), Journal of Moral Philosophy (forthcoming).
Review of Dallas Willard, The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge, edited and completed by Steven L. Porter, Aaron Preston, and Gregg A. Ten Elshof (Routledge, 2018), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (2019).
Review of Kevin Timpe and Craig A. Boyd, eds., Virtues and Their Vices (Oxford University Press, 2014), Faith and Philosophy 33, 3 (2016): 13–17.
Review of Peter Olsthoorn, Honor in Political and Moral Philosophy (SUNY Press, 2014), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 6, 34 (2015).
Review of Julien A. Deonna and Fabrice Teroni, The Emotions: A Philosophical Introduction (New York: Routledge, 2012), Journal of Moral Philosophy 12, 2 (2015)