J.D. Trout is a Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at Loyola University Chicago, and Adjunct Professor at the Parmly Sensory Sciences Institute. He received his PhD in Philosophy at Cornell University in 1988, and has also taught at Bryn Mawr College and Virginia Tech. His chief interests include the nature of scientific explanation, the psychology of human judgment, scientific realism and intellectual progress, and social/political issues bearing on well-being. He has also published work in epistemology and experimental and theoretical work in spoken language processing.