Philosophy - Faculty & Staff

Matt Carlson is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wabash College. Before joining the Wabash community in 2014, he earned his PhD at Indiana University, and taught for one year at the University of New Mexico.

Professor Carlson’s research primarily concerns a nest of related issues in epistemology, philosophy of logic, philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, and the history of analytic philosophy (particularly Frege, Carnap, and Quine). The main aim of his research is to explain how rational inquirers---including us, hopefully!---can be justified, and yet fallible, in their acceptance of logical principles. His central idea is that basic logical principles play an indispensable methodological role in our inquiries, and can be justified by virtue of their playing this role, but like all of our best theories, they are nevertheless open to revision. Carlson’s teaching interests include all of these areas, as you might expect, but he also enjoys teaching courses in early modern philosophy and political philosophy.

In the rare moments when he’s not doing philosophy, Carlson enjoys lifting weights, cooking, taking photographs, listening to interesting music, and watching football. He is very much looking forward to attending the football games at Wabash this Fall!