Bio
Paul Rezkalla is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the United States Air Force Academy. He is also currently a Visiting Fellow in Ethics & Politics at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele (Milan) and an Associate at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. Before joining USAFA, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy at Baylor University and the Arete Professorial Fellow at Hillsdale College. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Florida State University, a M.Sc. in cognitive and evolutionary anthropology from the University of Oxford, an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Birmingham (U.K.), an M.A. in theology from Saint John’s University.
He's interested in all things philosophy but works mainly on issues at the intersection of ethics and the life sciences.
Education
Ph.D., Philosophy, Florida State University (2021)
Master of Science, Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford (2019)
Master of Arts, Theology, Saint John’s University, NYC (2015)
Master of Arts, Philosophy, University of Birmingham, UK (2013)
Bachelor of Arts, New York University (2012)
Professional Experience
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, U.S. Air Force Academy (2024-present)
Visiting Fellow in Ethics & Politics, UniSR (2024)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Baylor University (2022-2024)
Arete Professorial Fellow, Hillsdale College (2021-2022)
Associate, Ian Ramsey Center for Science & Religion, University of Oxford (2018-present)
Honors & Awards
Young Philosopher Award, Prindle Institute for Ethics (2023)
Marc Sanders Media Fellow (2022)
Science-Engaged Theology Fellow (2022 & 2023)
Graduate Fellow, Florida State University Fellows Society (2018-2021)
Templeton Cross-Training Fellow (2018-2019)
Research and Scholarly Interests
Ethics
Bioethics
Philosophy of Science
Philosophical Anthropology
Philosophy of Religion
Publications
Articles & Book Chapters
“Aristotelianism and Darwinism” in Darwin and Design ed. Michael Ruse and William Dembski. Cambridge University Press (forthcoming)
“Biohacking Love & The Norms of Relationships” (with Emmanuel Smith) Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (2025)
“Experimenting with Philosophy of Religion: Lessons from Two Decades of Experimental Philosophy” Religious Studies (2025)
“Progress and Directionality in Evolution” in Ruminating on Ruse: Themes in the Evolutionary Naturalism of Michael Ruse ed. Bradford McCall, Wipf & Stock (2025)
“Failing to Deliver: Why Pregnancy is Not a Disease” (with Emmanuel Smith) Journal of Medical Ethics, 2024
“Empirical Challenges to the Evidential Problem of Evil” (with Ian Church, Blake McAllister, & Long Nguyen) Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy. Joshua Knobe & Shaun Nichols (eds.) Volume 5. 2024
“Why Moral Enhancement is Unavoidably Normative” American Journal of Bioethics-Neuroscience, 12:2-3, 105-106. 2021
“Theism & Evolutionary Debunking Arguments Against Moral Realism” European Journal for Philosophy of Religion. 12 (3): 41. 2020
“Aren’t right and wrong just matters of opinion? On moral relativism and subjectivism.” In Introduction to Philosophy, edited by Christina Hendricks. Rebus Press (2019)
“Does Cognitive Science of Religion Undermine Religious Belief?” Philosophy and Cosmology 12, no. 1 (2015)
Book Reviews
The Emotional Mind: The Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition by Stephen T. Asmi & Rami Gabriel, The Quarterly Review of Biology 95, no. 4 (December 2020): 324.
Neurotheology: How Science Can Enlighten Us About Spirituality by Andrew Newberg, The Quarterly Review of Biology 94, no. 1 (March 2019): 77.