Biography
My primary research interests are ancient Greek mathematics and metaphysics (especially Aristotle’s metaphysics, natural science, and philosophy of mathematics), as well as the question of how much we can understand about Aristotle’s predecessors and contemporaries from his discussions of their views. I am available to work with incoming graduate students as a committee member and/or teaching mentor.
Works
Papers
2024: “Quantity in the Categories,” in Riccardo Chiaradonna (ed.), Works of Philosophy and their Reception: Aristotle’sCategories (De Gruyter).
2023a: “Aristotle’s Rejection of Mathematized Metaphysics,” Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 37, 167–89.
2023b: “Why Aristotle Can’t Do without Intelligible Matter,” Ancient Philosophy Today: DIALOGOI 5, 123–155.
2023c: “Does Frege Have Aristotle’s Number?,” the Journal of the American Philosophical Association 9, 135–53 (Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2021.42).
2022: “On Generation and Corruption II.3: The Number and Nature of the Primary Bodies,” in Panos Dimas, Andrea Falcon, and Sean Kelsey (eds.), Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption Book II. Introduction, Translation, and Interpretative Essays (Cambridge University Press).
2021a: “Aristotle’s Philosophy of Geometry: A Philosophical Defense,” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 61, 143–200.
2021b: “What Numbers Could Not Be (for Aristotle),” Journal of the History of Philosophy 59, 193–219.
2019a: “Geometrical Objects as Properties of Sensibles: Aristotle’s Philosophy of Geometry,” Phronesis 64, 465–513.
2019b: “The Mixed Mathematical Intermediates,” Plato Journal 18, 83–96.
2018a: “The Performance of Philosophizing in the Platonic Lovers” (with Ronald Polansky), American Journal of Philology139, 397–421.
2018b: “Mathematical Substances in Aristotle’s Metaphysics B.5: Aporia 12 Revisited,” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 100, 113–45 (Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/agph-2018-2001).
2017: “Ontological Separation in Aristotle’s Metaphysics,” Phronesis 62, 26–68.
2014: “An Absurd Accumulation: Metaphysics M.2 1076b11-36,” Phronesis 59, 343–68.
2013: “Aristotle’s Critique of Platonist Mathematical Objects: Two Test Cases from Metaphysics M.2,” Apeiron 46, 26–47.
2006: “The Bad is Last but does not Last: Metaphysics Θ.9” (with Ronald Polansky), Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 31, 233–42.
Review Essay
2021c: “Contact and Continuity: What Happens at the Boundaries? A Discussion of Christian Pfeiffer, Aristotle’s Theory of Bodies,” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 60, 239–70.
Book Review
2016: Review of Bridging the Gap Between Aristotle’s Science and Ethics (edited by Devin Henry and Karen Margrethe Nielsen), Journal of the History of Philosophy 54, 155–6.
Public Philosophy
“What makes a good friendship?”, ABC Radio Australia (“Nightlife”), April 27, 2025:
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/nightlife/friendships/105221982
“Three Lessons from Aristotle on Friendship,” The Conversation, May 16, 2023: https://theconversation.com/three-lessons-from-aristotle-on-friendship-200520
College of Arts & Letters News
- Faculty Promotions for 2022College of Arts & Letters
December 1, 2022The College of Arts & Letters is pleased to recognize the faculty members who recently were promoted to full professor, associate professor, or associate professor-fixed term.
- Philosophy Student Gives New Perspective on the Nature of Marx and NietzscheCollege of Arts & Letters
May 13, 2022As a Philosophy major, Izzy Taylor studied how the philosophies of Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche share traits in some areas and how they differ in others. For Taylor, this research began as a final paper for her 19th Century Philosophy class, titled “Where Marx Underlies […] Read Now →
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