Professor McCarty teaches Global Voices in Applied Ethics, and Cultural Heritage I and II, a two-semester interdisciplinary course that looks at questions through the lens of history, philosophy and literature. For example, in Cultural Heritage I, entitled Love and the Will, she and her students examine questions surrounding the nature of love and human freedom. In this course, she and her students examine work of philosophers and authors from the ancient and medieval period to understand how their ideas on love and freedom help us understand these concepts in our own day.
Professor McCarty is finishing her dissertation under Eleonore Stump at St. Louis University. Her dissertation is on Thomas Aquinas, God’s personhood and the problem of evil. Some Christian philosophers have responded to the problem of evil by denying certain core aspects of Christian doctrine. Her aim is to use the thought of Aquinas to show that God’s personhood helps the philosopher to respond to the problem of evil in a way that preserves traditional Christian doctrine. In addition to her work on the problem of evil, Professor McCarty works on projects about the nature of human agency, the nature of human persons and the nature of love.
Professor McCarty also enjoys introducing philosophy to learners in a non-academic context. In addition to invited lectures at high schools, she has appeared on a podcast and been a member of a panel for a teen retreat on the problem of evil.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Metaphysics
- Philosophy of religion
EDUCATION
- Ph.D. candidate, philosophy, Saint Louis University (expected 2022)
- M.A., philosophy, Liberty University, 2017
- AAS, Central Virginia Community College, 2013
PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS AND PODCASTS
- Interview on evidence for Christianity and the resurrection, Agnostish (podcast), forthcoming 2022
- “The Problem of Evil with Emily McCarty,” Agnostish (podcast), 2022
- “Rethinking God’s Moral Goodness: A Failed Response to the Problem of Evil,” presentation at Saint Louis University Graduate Student Symposium,” 2022
- “The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy of Religion: Lessons from C. S. Lewis,” in Philosophy of Religion and Art (ed. by G. E. Trickett and J. R. Gilhooly), Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021
- “Walter Chatton’s Argument for the Necessitation Principle: A Lesson for Modern Truthmaker Theorists,” presentation at Indiana Philosophical Association meeting, 2021
- “God is a Person, Too,” presentation at Princeton-Rutgers Philosophy of Religion Incubator Conference, 2021
- "The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy of Religion: Lessons from C.S. Lewis,” presentation at Philosophy of Religion & Art conference of the Society for Christian Philosophers, 2019
OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE
Professor McCarty loves to spend time in local parks, especially during the cool fall weather. She also enjoys long runs and science fiction, especially Dr. Who and Star Trek: The Next Generation. She also likes to listen to Christian hip-hop artists, such as Lecrae and Trip Lee.
