tjwilliams87031@gmail.com
Raised just up the road in Southwest Arkansas, TJ Williams studied Mechanical Engineering at Oklahoma State. After graduation he lived and worked for 20 years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he also completed his Masters in Mechanical Engineering Controls at the University of New Mexico. TJ has 25 years’ experience in the defense industry working computer modeling and simulation, Systems Engineer, and team leadership.
ddrumm@ccsb.com
David G. Drumm serves as the Treasurer of the Dallas
Philosopher’s Forum. David received a BA
from the University of Texas at Austin with a major in anthropology and a JD
from Southern Methodist University Law School.
For the last 40 years, David has been with the Dallas
law firm of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, LLP. David is currently a partner and a member of
the Executive Committee of the firm and practices in the area of real estate
and oil and gas transactions.
David is currently the Treasurer, and for seven years
was President, of the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation, a private foundation pursuing
a mission of promoting civic education and participation.
David is a licensed Unity teacher credentialed by the
Unity Worldwide Spiritual Institute and lectures and teaches at Unity of Dallas
and other venues in the areas of comparative religion, philosophical theology,
and cultural and intellectual history.
Ken Sauter is an independent designer who graduated from
Carnegie-Mellon University with a degree in Design. He subsequently earned an MBA at LeTourneau
University. Ken has designed
three night vision sights for the Military, as well as designing commercial
speed ovens for a Dallas R&D firm.
Ken has been operating his own business, Sauter Industrial Design, since
2007.
Ken’s interest in Philosophy began when he realized that
there are some questions in life that don’t lend themselves to black and white
answers. There is a philosophy behind
every answer to a question, and it makes a difference in the answer if there’s
a different philosophy behind it.
Ken has been handling A/V needs for the Dallas Philosophers Forum for about 20 years.
rob.mckellar91@gmail.com
Rob has been
on the board since about 2018. He coordinates the Speaker Schedule for the
Forum and manages the collaborative workspace. Rob has a B.S. degree from Southern
Methodist University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at
Arlington. Dr. McKellar has conducted research in areas ranging from Medicinal
Chemistry to Material Science at the Air Force Research Laboratories, the
University of Dayton Research Institute, the University of Cincinnati, Wright
State University, Alcon Laboratories and with a couple of small companies. He
has taught Chemistry at the college level and at the high school level. He is certified, in Texas, to teach all
science subjects, 7th to 12th grade. Dr. McKellar is an
independent inventor with five U.S. utility patents granted for which he is currently
pursuing marketing and licensing. In addition, Dr. McKellar is a Chemistry tutor
as well as a tutor for other science subjects.
So far, Dr.
McKellar has given two talks at the Dallas Philosophers Forum: one on
“Consciousness” (Fall 2021) and a second on “Follow the Science? Stories of
When the Consensus Scientific Belief was Wrong and One Person was Right:
Implications for Public Policy, Science and Education.” (Spring 2023) (Videos of these talks can be
found on the Dallas Philosophers Forum website under “archives.”) Dr. McKellar
is an avid reader and beyond science is interested in all intellectual pursuits
especially philosophy, religion, history, language, and psychology and the
intersectionality of these disciplines.
Dr. McKellar
is currently working on a grant from the MSW (Ministry of Silly Walks). His recent
results include the following: his right leg does a half turn every alternate
step, but, unfortunately, his left leg still isn’t silly at all.
jacksezer86@gmail.com
Jack holds a Bachelor's degree in Christian studies and theology from Dallas Baptist University, a Master's degree in Biblical and theological studies from Dallas Theological Seminary, and is currently acquiring a Master's in philosophy at the University of Dallas. He continues to publish on Substack where he writes essays regarding politics, philosophy, and theology. He also hosts the Veridical Podcast where he conducts interviews, analyzes essays, and reviews literature. He says "I have benefited greatly from the Dallas Philosopher's Forum and am excited to be a part of its future."
dixond307@gmail.com
Raised mainly in the Midwest, David (Dave) Dixon received his B.A. in History from Wake Forest University and his J.D. from Southern Methodist University (now Dedman) School of Law. He spent most of his professional career as an attorney with various federal agencies, primarily involved in bank regulation.
Now retired, Dave devotes time to studying history (especially the history of ideas), philosophy, politics, and literature, as well as to foreign travel, music, and the collection of old books and art prints. Philosophically, Dave is inclined toward a phenomenalist approach to epistemology similar to that of David Hume and Ernst Mach, toward absurdism in metaethics much like that of Albert Camus, and toward subjectivist versions of motive consequentialism and pragmatism in normative ethics and applied ethics, respectively.
Although deeply skeptical of the existence or accessibility of objective truth, Dave continues to seek it, believing both that the search for it may be more illuminating than a purported discovery of it and that philosophical inquiry seems to be quite beneficial to understanding how one might best live in its apparent absence or inaccessibility. He believes that the DPF serves such purpose and facilitates better community dialogue regarding the broad topic of philosophy.
Dave enjoyed the Philosophers’ Football Match but believes it would have been of higher quality with the participation of more relevant philosophers.