University of California, Irvine
The Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science
PhD, 2001
San Francisco, California, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Religion
  •  1
    Idealism and Cartesian Motion
    In Alan Nelson (ed.), A Companion to Rationalism, Blackwell. 2005.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Cartesian Motion Classical Problems Realist and Idealist Resolutions Conclusion.
  •  2
    11 The Emerging Picture of Mary Astell’s Views
    In Penny Weiss & Alice Sowaal (eds.), Feminist Interpretations of Mary Astell, Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 188-206. 2016.
  •  1
    4 Mary Astell and the Development of Vice
    In Penny Weiss & Alice Sowaal (eds.), Feminist Interpretations of Mary Astell, Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 57-73. 2016.
  •  103
    In general outline, Astell's A Serious Proposal to the Ladies is well understood. In Part I, Astell argues that women are educable, and she proposes the construction of a women's academy. In Part II, she proposes a method for the improvement of the mind. In this article, I reconstruct and contextualize Astell's arguments and proposals within her theory of mind and her account of the skeptical predicament that she sees as being endemic among women. I argue that Astell's two proposals are best und…Read more
  • When Descartes famously claimed that he could explain the world in terms of matter in motion, he was sounding the mantra of seventeenth century science. Though his enthusiasm about this new science has been appreciated and is well documented, the details of his contribution are viewed as riddled with paradox. These purported paradoxes revolve around Descartes's circular definition of 'motion' and 'a body', which seems to render his account of individuation implausible. ;I argue for a new interpr…Read more
  •  46
    Mary Astell: Theorist of freedom from domination
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 46 (2). 2008.
    Project MUSE - Journal of the History of Philosophy - Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination Project MUSE Journals Journal of the History of Philosophy Volume 46, Number 2, April 2008 Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination Journal of the History of Philosophy Volume 46, Number 2, April 2008 E-ISSN: 1538-4586 Print ISSN: 0022-5053 DOI: 10.1353/hph.0.0014 Reviewed by Alice SowaalSan Francisco State University Patricia Springborg. Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination…Read more
  •  106
    At the crux of Descartes's general metaphysics and epistemology are his accounts of substances, attributes and ideas of substances and attributes. In spite of the centrality of these theories, there is wide disagreement among scholars about how to interpret them. I approach these debates by focusing on Descartes's theory of the infinite substance ? God. I argue that God's attributes are neither individual, inseparable properties that inhere in God (contra Kenny, Wilson, Curley, Hoffman) nor dedu…Read more
  •  15
    Feminist Interpretations of Mary Astell (edited book)
    Pennsylvania State University Press. 2016.
    "A collection of essays on the early modern English writer, proto-feminist, and rhetorician Mary Astell. Includes discussions on human nature, equality, rationality, power, freedom, friendship, marriage, and education"--Provided by publisher.
  •  38
    Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 46 (2): 322-323. 2008.
    Project MUSE - Journal of the History of Philosophy - Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination Project MUSE Journals Journal of the History of Philosophy Volume 46, Number 2, April 2008 Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination Journal of the History of Philosophy Volume 46, Number 2, April 2008 E-ISSN: 1538-4586 Print ISSN: 0022-5053 DOI: 10.1353/hph.0.0014 Reviewed by Alice SowaalSan Francisco State University Patricia Springborg. Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination…Read more
  •  44
    Mary Astell
    Journal of the History of Philosophy. 2007.
    Project MUSE - Journal of the History of Philosophy - Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination Project MUSE Journals Journal of the History of Philosophy Volume 46, Number 2, April 2008 Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination Journal of the History of Philosophy Volume 46, Number 2, April 2008 E-ISSN: 1538-4586 Print ISSN: 0022-5053 DOI: 10.1353/hph.0.0014 Reviewed by Alice SowaalSan Francisco State University Patricia Springborg. Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from Domination…Read more
  •  115
    Cartesian Bodies
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 34 (2). 2004.
    How we understand Descartes’s physics rests on how we interpret his ontological commitment to individual bodies, and in particular on how we account for their individuation. However, Descartes’s contemporaries as well as contemporary philosophers have seen Descartes’s account of the individuation of bodies as deeply flawed. In the first part of this paper, I discuss how the various problems and puzzles involved in Descartes’s account of the individuation of bodies arise, and the relevance of the…Read more