Biography
His dissertation, The Conscious Mind Unified, won the Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award from both the Department of Philosophy and the School of Humanities (a first for the Philosophy Department) at Baylor University.
Dr. Rickabaugh’s research seeks to understand what unifies and disunifies ultimate reality and human persons. More specifically, he focuses on the nature of consciousness and how it informs our understanding of human nature, the reality and activity of God, and human flourishing. He has published several articles in scholarly journals on topics such as the nature of human consciousness and intentionality, the reality of the human soul, natural theology, interpersonal knowledge of God, neuroscience, and Christian spiritual formation. He also engages public-facing philosophy exploring how the nature of consciousness and human persons relate to emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and neuroscience. He has given talks at universities in the US and UK, including Oxford, Durham, UC Davis, UT Austin, CU Boulder, and Yale.
Before coming to PBA, Dr. Rickabaugh was a Research Fellow on the Templeton-funded Accountability as a Relational Virtue Project at Baylor University. Previously he received an SCP Science Cross-Training Grant to study neuroscience for one year at Baylor. His work has won major awards from institutions including The Henry Center, The Dallas Willard Center, and The Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies. In 2019, he was named among the Top 40 Most Impactful Faculty at Baylor University.
In addition to his appointment at PBA, Dr. Rickabaugh is the Franz Brentano Fellow of the Cultura Initiative at The Martin Institute, where he works on the intersection of Christian spiritual formation, the ontology of the human person, and developing technologies. Dr. Rickabaugh is the recipient of a generous privately funded $200,000 research grant to further his work in public-facing philosophy and finish three academic books on various issues in the philosophy of mind and human consciousness over the next two years.
Dr. Rickabaugh’s wife, Laura, teaches fourth grade at Jupiter Christian School, and they have three children. His hobbies include travel, film, woodworking, robotics, and enjoying excellent coffee and Indian food.
Find out more about Dr. Rickabaugh and his work at www.brandonrickabaugh.com.
Degrees
PhD in Philosophy, Baylor University | MA in Philosophy, Baylor University | MA in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics, Biola University | BA in Philosophy, University of California, Irvine