Biography
John Grey received his Ph.D. from Boston University. His research focuses on the history of modern philosophy, though he has also published research on contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of science. His historical work examines the systematic attempts of early modern authors to provide metaphysical foundations for psychology, ethics, and politics. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on these issues, focusing particularly on the work of Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) and Anne Finch Conway (1631-1679). He currently teaches a variety of courses on logic, paradoxes, causation, free will, and early modern philosophy.
Works
Books
- Jonathan Head and John Grey. 2024. Early Modern Philosophy: An Inclusive Introduction with Readings. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
- John Grey. 2025. Parts and Wholes. In Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon, eds. Karolina Hübner and Justin Steinberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- John Grey. 2025. Power (potentia and potestas). In Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon, eds. Karolina Hübner and Justin Steinberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- John Grey. 2025. Right. In Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon, eds. Karolina Hübner and Justin Steinberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- John Grey. 2025. Singular Things. In Cambridge Spinoza Lexicon, eds. Karolina Hübner and Justin Steinberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- John Grey. 2023. Anne Conway’s Ontology of Creation: A Pluralist Interpretation. Journal of the American Philosophical Association.
- John Grey. 2021. The Metaphysics of Natural Right in Spinoza. Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy, Volume X.
- David Godden and John Grey. 2021. Reasoning by Grounded Analogy. Synthese 199(3-4): 5419-5453.
- Catherine Kendig and John Grey. 2020. Can the epistemic value of natural kinds be explained independently of their metaphysics? British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
- John Grey. 2019. Species and the Good in Anne Conway’s Metaethics. In Comparative Metaethics: Neglected Perspectives on the Foundations of Morality, ed. Colin Marshall. New York: Routledge.
- John Grey and Aaron Garrett. 2018. You are what you eat, but should you eat what you are?: Modern philosophical dietetics. In Oxford Handbook of Food Ethics, eds. Anne Barnhill, Tyler Doggett, and Andy Egan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- John Grey. 2017. Conway’s Ontological Objection to Cartesian Dualism. Philosophers’ Imprint 17 no. 3.
- John Grey. 2017. The Modal Equivalence Rules of the Port-Royal Logic. History and Philosophy of Logic 38 no. 3.
- John Grey. 2017. Reply to Nadler: Spinoza and the Metaphysics of Suicide. British Journal for the History of Philosophy 25 no. 2.
- John Grey. 2015. Reason and Knowledge in Spinoza. In Spinoza: Basic Concepts, ed. André Santos Campos. Exeter: Imprint Academic.
- John Grey. 2015. Semantic and Pragmatic Stances toward Emerging Media. In Philosophy of Emerging Media, ed. Juliet Floyd and James Katz. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- John Grey. 2014. Spinoza on Composition, Causation, and the Mind’s Eternity. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 22 no. 3.
- John Grey. 2013. ‘Use Them At Our Pleasure’: Spinoza on Animal Ethics. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 30 no. 4.
Book Reviews & Encyclopedia Entries
- John Grey. 2023. Review of Steven Nadler, Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die. Journal of the History of Philosophy. [PDF of accepted version here.]
- John Grey. 2020. Review of Martin Lin, Being and Reason: An Essay on Spinoza’s Metaphysics. Mind. [PDF of accepted version here.]
- John Grey. 2019. Review of Michael LeBuffe, Spinoza on Reason. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 17 April.
- John Grey. 2018. Review of Emily Thomas, Early Modern Women on Metaphysics. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 56 no. 4.
- John Grey. 2016. Review of Roger Ariew, Descartes and the First Cartesians. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 54 no. 1.
- John Grey. 2015. Spinoza: Moral Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- John Grey. 2015. Review of Tad Schmaltz (ed.), Efficient Causation: A History. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 4 March.
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.
- Teaching and Research Guided by Student InterestsCollege of Arts & Letters
October 11, 2018John Grey, Academic Specialist in the Department of Philosophy, is using his research and teaching experience to develop dynamic and engaging courses in logic, metaphysics and the history of philosophy. Grey first discovered his passion for teaching as a doctoral student at […] Read Now →
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