Biography
Juan Garcia Torres, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine, where he is also affiliated faculty in Religious Studies. Garcia Torres received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Ohio State University in 2018, where his dissertation examined Leibniz on contingency and freedom through a Molinism-friendly interpretation. His research spans early modern philosophy, Latin American philosophy, philosophy of religion, and social and political philosophy.
Garcia Torres has published fifthteen journal articles in venues including the British Journal for the History of Philosophy, History of Philosophy Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, and Res Philosophica. His work addresses topics in Leibniz's metaphysics and philosophy of action, as well as the thought of Latin American philosophers including Jorge Portilla, Carlos Vaz Ferreira, Emilio Uranga, and Clemente de Jesús Munguía. His article "Decolonizing the Mind and Authentic Self-Creation a la Jorge Portilla" received honorable mention for the 2022 APA Essay Prize in Latin American Thought.
Garcia Torres was awarded the 2023-2024 Spivey Instructorship at Wingate University, a paid research sabbatical for pre-tenured assistant professors awarded to a single applicant with the most valuable and promising research agenda. He has held positions at Wingate University, where he served as Assistant Professor from 2020 to 2024, and as Bellarmine Postdoctoral Fellow at Loyola Marymount University from 2018 to 2020. Garcia Torres serves on the APA Committee on Hispanics/Latinxs and has refereed for multiple philosophy journals including Philosophers' Imprint, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, and Faith and Philosophy.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018
- M.A. in Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014
- B.A. in Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007
Distinctions
- APA Essay Prize in Latin American Thought (honorable mention), 2022
- Res Philosophica Essay Contest: New Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion (honorable mention), 2017
- Spivey Instructorship at Wingate University - paid research Sabbatical leave for pre-tenured Assistant Professors awarded to a single applicant with the most valuable and promising research agenda, 2023-2024
- The William H. Fink Award for best graduate essay in philosophy (honorable mention), 2015
- Wingate University Mentor Recognition - Selected by graduating students in recognition of a faculty who has played a significant role in their academic success, 2022
Areas of Expertise
- Early Modern Philosophy
- Leibnizian Contingency and Freedom
- Molinism and Divine Foreknowledge
- Thomas Reid on Moral Character
- Jorge Portilla on Decolonial Liberation
- Carlos Vaz Ferreira Intellectual Flourishing
- Existentialist Problem of Evil
Recent Publications
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Paulo Freire and Jorge Portilla on the Oppressed as the Agents of Liberation” (opens in new tab), Res Philosophica, vol. 103, no. 1, pp. 61-87, 2026.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “An Existentialist Response to the Problem of Evil a la Jorge Portilla” (opens in new tab), Religious Studies, pp. 1-14, 2025.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “The Ethics of Ethnic Identity: Jorge Portilla versus Christine Korsgaard” (opens in new tab), Res Philosophica, vol. 102, no. 2, pp. 121-144, 2025.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Credible Theological Encroachment a la Clemente de Jesús Munguía” (opens in new tab), Faith and Philosophy, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 470-492, 2025.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Carlos Vaz Ferreira on Intellectual Flourishing as Intellectual Liberation”, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 1374-1395, 2024.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Leibniz on Innocent Individual Concepts and Metaphysical Contingency” (opens in new tab), History of Philosophy Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 73-94, 2024.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Emilio Uranga and Jorge Portilla on Accidentality as a Decolonial Tool” (opens in new tab), Res Philosophica, vol. 101, no. 1, pp. 55-80, 2024.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Jorge Portilla on Philosophy and Agential Liberation”, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 62, pp. 246-262, 2024.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Decolonizing the Mind and Authentic Self-Creation a la Jorge Portilla”, APA Studies on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 5-10, 2023.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Leibniz on Free and Responsible Wrongdoing”, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 23-43, 2022.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Carlos Vaz Ferreira on Freedom and Determinism” (opens in new tab), Res Philosophica, vol. 99, no. 4, pp. 377-402, 2022.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Leibniz on Agential Contingency and Inclining but not Necessitating Reasons”, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 149-164, 2022.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Justin J. Daeley, Why God Must Do What is Best: A Philosophical Investigation of Theistic Optimism”, The Leibniz Review, vol. 32, pp. 159-165, 2022.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Leibniz on Agential Contingency and Explanation of Rational Action”, Studia Leibnitiana, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 76-98, 2019.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Leibniz, a Friend of Molinism”, Res Philosophica, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 397-420, 2018.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Libertarianism, Moral Character, and Alternative Possibilities in Thomas Reid”, History of Philosophy Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 59-75, 2018.
- Juan Garcia Torres, “Mi Experiencia”, ¿Qué Pasa, OSU?, 2007.
Contact Information
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/juan-garcia
Email: juang25@uci.edu
Address: 69 Humanities Instructional - HIB, Irvine, CA 92697
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Last updated on 3/14/2026.