Rate My Professor Christopher Tucker

Christopher Tucker is the Francis S. Haserot Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at William & Mary. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy with high honors and a minor in Religion from Emory University in 2003, along with an M.A. in Philosophy through a joint B.A./M.A. program, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Purdue University in 2008 with highest distinction, during which he was a research visitor at the University of Notre Dame. Tucker's academic career includes positions as Assistant Professor at Stonehill College (2008-2009), Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame (2009-2010), and Lecturer at the University of Auckland (2010-2013). He joined William & Mary in 2013 as Assistant Professor, advancing to Associate Professor in 2016, Professor in 2023, and the Francis S. Haserot Professorship in 2022. He assumed the role of Department Chair in 2024. His honors include the 2025 Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence ($20,000), the Francis S. Haserot Professorship (2022-2027), finalist for the 2012 dialectica Essay Prize, and the 2011 Excellence in Philosophy of Religion Prize ($2,000).

Tucker's research interests center on epistemology, philosophy of religion, ethics, and their intersections, particularly phenomenal conservatism, which posits that seemings provide prima facie justification for belief; weighing reasons; supererogation; and epistemological and ethical dimensions of the problem of evil. He is the author of the forthcoming *The Weights of Reasons: A Framework for Ethics* (Oxford University Press, 2025) and editor of *Seemings and Justification: New Essays on Dogmatism and Phenomenal Conservatism* (Oxford University Press, 2013). Select publications include "The Dual Scale Model of Weighing Reasons" (*Nous*, 2022), "When Transmission Fails" (*Philosophical Review*, 2010), "Parity, Moral Options, and the Weights of Reasons" (*Nous*, 2023), and "Divine Satisficing and the Ethics of the Problem of Evil" (*Faith and Philosophy*, 2020). He has received grants such as the Marsden Fund Fast Start Grant (NZ$327,000, 2011) and four William & Mary Research Grants totaling $19,000. Tucker serves as Area Editor for *Ergo* (2024-present), editorial board member for *Thought* and *Faith and Philosophy*, Chair of the Society of Christian Philosophers Executive Committee (2017-2018), and co-organizer of eight Theistic Ethics Workshops (2015-2024). His scholarship influences debates in normative ethics, epistemology, and religious philosophy through publications in premier journals and organizational leadership.