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34Introduction: Final Causes and Teleological ExplanationsLogical Analysis and History of Philosophy 14 (1): 11-19. 2011.Introduction: Final Causes and Teleological Explanations
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34Occasionalismus. Theorien der Kausalität im arabisch-islamischen und im europäischen DenkenVandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 2000.Thomas von Aquin reagierte im 13. Jahrhundert als erster europäischer Theologe auf den Occasionalismus, der sich im arabisch-islamischen Denken vom 8. bis zum 12. Jahrhundert entwickelte, und begann damit die bis in das 17. Jahrhundert fortdauernde Auseinandersetzung mit diesem Thema. Die Autoren stellen in chronologischer Reihenfolge die gesamte arabisch-islamische und europäische Diskussion vor.
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34Was ist eine Person? Überlegungen zu LeibnizDeutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 64 (3): 329-351. 2016.Leibniz holds that we cannot give an account of the synchronic and diachronic identity of a person without appealing to a substance. This paper analyses his reasons for this anti-Lockean thesis. It first looks at his theory of substance, paying particular attention to his commitment to the Principle of Sufficient Reason: the existence of a well-ordered series of mental states cannot be sufficiently explained without reference to a substance. The paper then examines the distinction Leibniz draws …Read more
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33Could God Deceive Us? Skeptical Hypotheses in Late Medieval EpistemologyIn Henrik Lagerlund (ed.), Rethinking the history of skepticism: the missing medieval background, Brill. pp. 171-192. 2009.Could God Deceive Us? Skeptical Hypotheses in Late Medieval Epistemology
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32Zweifel und Gewissheit: Skeptische Debatten im Mittelalter (Philosophische Abhandlungen, Bd. 92)
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32Disembodied Cognition and Assimilation: Thirteenth-Century Debates on an Epistemological PuzzleVivarium 57 (3-4): 317-340. 2019.Medieval Aristotelians assumed that we cannot assimilate forms unless our soul abstracts them from sensory images. But what about the disembodied soul that has no senses and hence no sensory images? How can it assimilate forms? This article discusses this problem, focusing on two thirteenth-century models. It first looks at Thomas Aquinas’ model, which invokes divine intervention: the separated soul receives forms directly from God. The article examines the problems this explanatory model poses …Read more
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30Spinozas Theorie der UniversalienZeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 70 (2): 163-188. 2016.Spinoza claims that universal notions (notiones universales) are simply based on the comparison of individuals and that they do not refer to universal properties. But he also holds that common notions (notiones communes) refer to something that is common to all individuals. Does this mean that he defends different theories of universals with respect to different types of notions? This paper rejects this interpretation, arguing that Spinoza subscribes to a comprehensive nominalist position. On hi…Read more
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29Complexity and Unity: Peter of John Olivi and Henry of Ghent on the composition of the soulRecherches de Theologie Et Philosophie Medievales 89 (2): 335-392. 2022.All Aristotelians subscribed to the thesis that the soul as the principle of life has many powers. But how are the powers related to the soul’s essence? It has often been argued that medieval philosophers gave two answers to this ques- tion: some took them to be necessary accidents that are distinct from the soul’s essence, whereas others simply identified them with the essence. This paper intends to show that there were alternatives to these two standard models. Peter of John Olivi argued that …Read more
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28Powers and Abilities in Early Modern Philosophy (edited book)Routledge. 2024.This book explores different accounts of powers and abilities in early modern philosophy. It analyzes powers and abilities as a package, hopefully enabling us to better understand them both and to see similarities as well as dissimilarities. While some prominent early modern accounts of power have been studied in detail, this volume covers lesser-known thinkers and several early modern women philosophers. The volume also investigates early modern accounts of powers and abilities in a more system…Read more
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28Is an Analytical Geistesgeschichte Possible? Four ThesesDeutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft Und Geistesgeschichte 97 (1): 223-235. 2023.How is it possible to investigate philosophical texts analytically, but simultaneously to contextualize them historically and thus to pursue an analytic Geistesgeschichte? The following contribution answers this question in four theses: (1) According to the Nominalism-Thesis, individual texts as opposed to general trends or ideas are to be attended to. (2) The Relationism-Thesis holds that these texts are always to be related to other texts within their historical context. (3) The Multi-Perspect…Read more
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27José Bermúdez: Thinking Without Words (review)Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 59 (2): 306-310. 2005.
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26Anneliese Maier and the Study of Medieval Philosophy TodayJournal of the History of Philosophy 53 (2): 173-184. 2015.Anneliese Maier and the Study of Medieval Philosophy Today
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26Gibt es Individuen? Überlegungen zu Spinozas MonismusDeutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 63 (3): 497-517. 2015.Name der Zeitschrift: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie Jahrgang: 63 Heft: 3
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24Is Our Happiness up to Us? Elisabeth of Bohemia on the Limits of InternalismIn Sabrina Ebbersmeyer & Sarah Hutton (eds.), Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680): A Philosopher in Her Historical Context, Springer Verlag. pp. 177-192. 2021.This paper examines Elisabeth of Bohemia’s critique of Descartes’ internalist conception of happiness. According to this conception, we can all become happy because we can all make full use of our rational faculties and constantly follow our best judgments. Happiness is nothing but an “internal satisfaction” that arises when we act in accordance with these judgments. Elisabeth challenges this conception by pointing out that it is far too optimistic and that it neglects what is external to our ow…Read more
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24C. Reinhard Hülsen, Zur Semantik anaphorischer Pronomina. Untersuchungen scholastischer & moderner Theorien (review)Vivarium 33 (2): 254-257. 1995.Vivarium (VIV) is an international journal dedicated to the history of philosophy and intellectual life from the early Middle Ages to the early modern era. It is widely recognized as an unrivalled resource for the history of logic, semantics, epistemology, and metaphysics. It welcomes articles on medieval, Renaissance and early-modern thinkers, their ideas, arguments, and writings, as well as the institutional and intellectual life of this period. Editions of texts as brief appendices to the mai…Read more
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24Abkehr vom Mythos: Descartes in der gegenwärtigen Diskussion (review)Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 51 (2): 285-308. 1997.The journal Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung, appearing since 1946, is among the most important academic German language journals. It is open to all topics, approaches, and positions of philosophical thought. Given the increasing differentiation and specialization of the field, it thus constitutes a forum offering its various disciplines the opportunity for mutual recognition and exchange. The articles published in it are subject to an anonymous peer review in which internationally renow…Read more
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24The Faculties: A History (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2015.It seems quite natural to explain the activities of human and non-human animals by referring to their special faculties. Thus, we say that dogs can smell things in their environment because they have perceptual faculties, or that human beings can think because they have rational faculties. But what are faculties? In what sense are they responsible for a wide range of activities? How can they be individuated? How are they interrelated? And why are different types of faculties assigned to differen…Read more
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24The Alienation Effect in the Historiography of PhilosophyIn Marcel van Ackeren (ed.), Philosophy and the Historical Perspective, Oxford University Press. pp. 140-154. 2018.It has often been said that we should enter into a dialogue with thinkers of the past because they discussed they same problems we still have today and presented sophisticated solutions to them. I argue that this “dialogue model” ignores the specific context in which many problems were created and defined. A closer look at various contexts enables us to see that philosophical problems are not as natural as they might seem. When we contextualize them, we experience a healthy alienation effect: we…Read more
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23Rational Seeing: Thomas Aquinas on Human PerceptionIn Elena Băltuță (ed.), Medieval Perceptual Puzzles: Theories of Sense Perception in the 13th and 14th Centuries, Investigating Medieval Philoso. pp. 213-237. 2019.Aquinas holds that human beings perceive material objects in a rational way, since their sensory faculty is always under the guidance of the rational faculty. This paper intends to shed light on this fundamental thesis. First, it examines the metaphysical background, focusing on Aquinas’s claim that there is just one soul with interconnected, hierarchically ordered faculties. Second, it looks at the interconnection in the case of perception, paying particular attention to the vis cogitativa. Thi…Read more
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23Was ist Philosophie im Mittelalter? (review)Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 54 (1): 95-107. 2000.
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22Eine Person sein. Philosophische Debatten im SpätmittelalterKlostermann. 2020.Was ist eine menschliche Person? Durch welche besonderen Eigenschaften zeichnet sie sich aus? Und wodurch unterscheidet sie sich von einem blossen Lebewesen? Mittelalterliche Autoren widmeten sich mit viel Scharfsinn diesen Fragen, indem sie sich auf drei Dimensionen einer Person konzentrierten. Sie setzten bei der metaphysischen Dimension an, indem sie eine Person als eine individuelle Substanz mit einer rationalen Natur bestimmten. Dies fuhrte sie dazu, diese Substanz genauer zu untersuchen: i…Read more
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22Faculties in Medieval PhilosophyIn The Faculties: A History, Oxford University Press. pp. 97-139. 2015.What kind of entities are faculties? How are they related to the soul and to the entire living being? How can they be classified? And in what sense are they responsible for a large variety of activities? This chapter examines these questions, which were extensively discussed by scholastic authors, and focuses on the metaphysical models established by William of Auvergne, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, and Francisco Suárez. It argues that there was no unified scholastic doctrine. While some a…Read more
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21Transformations of the soul: Aristotelian psychology, 1250-1650 (edited book)Brill. 2008.Focusing on the period between Albertus Magnus and Descartes, the ten contributions examine various Aristotelian theories of the soul.
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21Direkte und indirekte Bezeichnung. Die metaphysischen Hintergründe einer semantischen Debatte im SpätmittelalterBochumer Philosophisches Jahrbuch Fur Antike Und Mittelalter 4 (1): 125-152. 1999.Late medieval philosophers in the Aristotelian tradition developed two theoretical models in order to explain the signication of words. Some - including Thomas Aquinas - claimed that spoken words immediately signify concepts, but extramental things only mediately, while others - such as William of Ockham - held the view that they immediately signify things. The present essay analyzes these two semantic models, paying particular attention to their metaphysical and epistemological background. It s…Read more
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21La théorie cartésienne du jugement: Remarques sur la IVe méditationLes Etudes Philosophiques 71 (4): 461-483. 2004.Les Études philosophiques est une revue publiée par les Presses universitaires de France. Fondée en 1926 par Gaston Berger et d’abord publiée à Marseille, la revue fut initialement le Bulletin d’une société philosophique régionale. Il s’agissait de rendre compte des travaux locaux tout en assurant la communication des orientations et des résultats de la recherche au plan international. La revue s’est attachée à maintenir cette double vocation, ancrage dans la tradition philosophique et ouverture…Read more
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20Ockham über die Seele und ihre TeileRecherches de Theologie Et Philosophie Medievales 77 (2): 329-366. 2010.Ockham affirms that a human being consists of three really distinct forms that exist in matter, thus defending a «pluralist» position in the debate about the soul. However, he takes a «unitarist» position with regard to the rational soul, claiming that intellect and will are not really distinct. Why does he not admit a plurality of forms in the rational soul as well? And why does he think that the rational soul as a whole is really distinct from the sensory soul? This paper examines these questi…Read more
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20Duns Scotus's Philosophy of LanguageIn Thomas Williams (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Duns Scotus, Cambridge University Press. pp. 161-192. 2003.
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19Spinoza on SkepticismIn Michael Della Rocca (ed.), The Oxford Handbook to Spinoza, Oxford University Press. pp. 220-239. 2013.Spinoza never discusses the scenario of radical skepticism as it was introduced by Descartes. Why not? This paper argues that he chooses a preventive strategy: instead of taking the skeptical challenge as it is and trying to refute it, he questions the challenge itself and gives a diagnosis of its origin. It is a combination of semantic atomism, dualism and anti-naturalism that gives rise to radical doubts. Spinoza attacks these basic assumptions, opting instead for semantic holism, anti-dualism…Read more
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17Descartes über FremdpsychischesArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 77 (1): 42-62. 1995.The journal publishes exceptional articles in all areas of Western philosophy from antiquity up to contemporary philosophy. The Archiv articles are distinguished by precise argumentation and lucid prose.
Areas of Specialization
History of Western Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
History of Western Philosophy |