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Ricardo S. Silvestre

 Philosophy Professor

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I'm a philosophy professor at the Federal University of Campina Grande and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (both in Brazil).

 

I'm also the leader of the project Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions: Towards a Theistic Theory of Consciousness, funded by the John Templeton Foundation (the project is a continuation and expansion of the project A Philosophical Approach to the Vaishava Concept of God, also supported by JTF).

 

I received my PhD from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Montreal (Canada). My research interests include the Philosophy of Religion, the Philosophy of Mind, Indian Philosophy, and Philosophical Logic. 

 

I have recently co-edited the volumes Vaisnava Concepts of God: Philosophical Perspectives (Routledge, 2024) and Beyond Faith and Rationality: Essays on Logic, Religion and Philosophy (Springer,  2020). I'm currently working on a special issue of Sophia on Indian Traditions and the Concept of God, to be published in October 2024, a special issue of TheoLogica on the Contradictory God, to be published in 2025, and a Handbook on Indian Concepts of God, to be published most likely in 2027. 

 

I have also guest-edited the special issue on Logic and Philosophy of Religion (2017) of Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions, the special issues on the Concept of God (2019) and Formal Approaches to the Ontological Argument (2018) of the Journal of Applied Logics, and the special issue on Logic and Religion (2017) of Logica Universalis (Springer). I have published nearly fifty book chapters and papers in such journals as: Religious Studies, Philosophia: Philosophical Quarterly of Israel, Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions, Logica Universalis, Journal of Applied Logics, Logic Journal of the IGPL, Logic and Logical Philosophy, and Manuscrito.

 

I have been a visiting scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (UK), the San José State University (USA), the University of Oxford (UK), the University of Notre Dame (USA) and the University of Québec (Canada),

Selected Publications

Full list of publications at PhilPeople

"Concepts of God and the Divine in Indian Traditions." (co-authored with Alan Herbert and Purushottama Bilimoria). Sophia 2024 (online first).

"The Logic of God: A Pluralistic Representational Theory of Concepts" Logica Universalis 2024 (online first).

 

"Panentheism and Theistic Cosmopsychism: God and the Cosmos in the Bhavagad Gītā" Sophia 63,  2024 (online first).

"The Concept of God in the Bhavagad Gītā: a Panentheistic Account" (co-authored with Alan Herbert) In: R. Silvestre, A. Herbert and B. P. Göcke (eds.) Vaiṣṇava Concepts of God: Philosophical Perspectives, London: Routledge, 2024.

Vaiṣṇava Concepts of God: Philosophical Perspectives (co-edited with A. Herbert and B. P. Göcke). London: Routledge, 2024.

"Conceptual Plausibility and the Rationality of Theistic Belief." Religious Studies, v. 60, 34-56, 2023. 

"Religion, Plurality and the Logic of the Concept of God" In: Andrea Vestrucci (ed.) Beyond Babel: Religion and Linguistic Pluralism.  London: Springer Science, 2023, pp. 287-302.

"Philosophical Logic = Philosophy + Logic?" In: Jean-Yves Béziau, J-P Desclés, A. Moktefi, A. Pascu (eds.) Logic in Question. London: Springer Science, 2023, pp. 281-301.

   

"On the Representation of the Concept of God". Philosophia, v. 50, pp. 731-755, 2022.

   

"A Formal-Logical Approach to the Concept of God". Manuscrito, v. 44, pp. 224-260, 2021. 

   

"Inductive Plausibility and Certainty” In: Marcin Trepczyński (ed.), Philosophical Approaches to the Foundations of Logics and Mathematics. Leiden: Brill, 2021, pp. 194-210.

  

Beyond Faith and Rationality: Essays on Logic, Religion and Philosophy (co-edited with B. P. Göcke, J-Y Beziau and P. Bilimoria). London: Springer Science, 2020.

  

“Some Thoughts on the Logical Aspects of the Problem of Evil”. In: Ricardo Silvestre; B. P. Göcke; J-Y Beziau; P. Bilimoria (eds.) Beyond Faith and Rationality: Essays on Logic, Religion and Philosophy, London: Springer Science, 2020, pp. 121-136.  

  

Current Positions

Since 2020

Since 2009

Since 2009

Professor at the Philosophy Graduate Program of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Titular Professor at Federal University of Campina Grande (Brazil)

Director of the Research Team Logic and Religion of the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development of Brazil.

Education

2001-2005

University of Montreal (Canada)

Ph.D. in Philosophy

1996-1998

Federal University of Ceará (Brazil)

MSc in Computer Science

1992-1996

Federal University of Ceará (Brazil)

BS in Computer Science

Grants and Fellowships

2023-2026

2022-2025

2021-2023

2020-2022

2013-2017

2009-2012

2006-2009

Research Grant. John Templeton Foundation. Project "Concepts of God and the Variety of Theisms in Indian Traditions: Towards a Theistic Theory of Consciousness." (#62954). $ 259,632.

Research Productivity Fellowship. National Council of Technological and Scientific Development of Brazil. Project “Logic and the Concept of God”. R$ 39,600. 

Research Grant. John Templeton Foundation: The Global Philosophy of Religion Project (# 61613). Project “A Philosophical Approach to the Vaishnava Concept of God". £ 30,000.

Research Grant. John Templeton Foundation: Supporting Constructive Research on the Existence of God in Portuguese-Speaking Latin America. Project “The Rationality of Theistic Belief and the Plausibility of the Concept of God” (#61556). R$ 80,000.

Research Grant. National Council of Technological and Scientific Development of Brazil. Project “Formal Methods in Philosophy: Applications of Logic to Philosophy of Religion”. R$ 15,000.

Research Productivity Fellowship. National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development of Brazil. Project “Formal Methods in Philosophy”. R$ 32,400.

Research Grant. National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development of Brazil. Project “Logic, Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence”. R$ 15,000.00.

+55 (83) 2101-1206

ricardoss@ufcg.edu.br

Unidade Acadêmica de Ciências Sociais, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande

Rua Aprígio Veloso 882, Campina Grande-PB, Brazil, 58429-900

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