•  132
    Al-Ghazālī on Possibility and the Critique of Causality
    Journal of Nietzsche Studies 10 (1): 23-46. 2001.
    One of the most striking features of speculative theology (kalaam) as it developed within the Ash'arite tradition of Islam is its denial of causal power to creatures. Much like Malebranche in the seventeenth century, the Ash'arites saw this denial as a natural extension of monotheism and were led as a result to embrace an occasionalist account of causality. According to their analysis, causal power is identical with creative power, and since God is the sole and sovereign creator, God is the only…Read more
  •  53
    Descartes’s Dualism and the One Principal Attribute Rule
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 11 (3). 2003.
    This Article does not have an abstract
  •  51
    The Ontological Argument
    American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 67 (4): 431-450. 1993.
  •  47
    Physics and metaphysics in Descartes and Galileo
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 37 (1): 49-71. 1999.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Physics and Metaphysics in Descartes and GalileoBlake D. Duttonin his classic biography of Descartes, Charles Adam passes this judgment on the influence of Galileo’s condemnation on the development of Cartesian metaphysics:Sans la condemnation de Galilée, nous aurions eu tout de même la métaphysique de Descartes. Mais nous ne l’aurions problement pas eue sous la forme volumineuse qu’elle a prise avec toutes ces Objections et Reponses…Read more
  •  44
  •  39
    Indifference, necessity, and Descartes's derivation of the laws of motion
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 34 (2): 193-212. 1996.
    Indifference, Necessity, and Descartes's Derivation of the Laws of Motion BLAKE D. DUTTON WHILE WORKING ON Le Monde, his first comprehensive scientific treatise, Des- cartes writes the following to Mersenne: "I think that all those to whom God has given the use of this reason have an obligation to employ it principally in the endeavor to know him and to know themselves. This is the task with which I began my studies; and I can say that I would not have been able to discover the foundations of ph…Read more
  •  29
    Benedict de Spinoza
    Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2004.
  •  26
    Emotions in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 60 (1): 162-163. 2006.
  •  24
    Al-Ghazālī on Possibility and the Critique of Causality
    Medieval Philosophy & Theology 10 (1): 23-46. 2001.
    One of the most striking features of speculative theology (kalāam) as it developed within the Ash'arite tradition of Islam is its denial of causal power to creatures. Much like Malebranche in the seventeenth century, the Ash'arites saw this denial as a natural extension of monotheism and were led as a result to embrace an occasionalist account of causality. According to their analysis, causal power is identical with creative power, and since God is the sole and sovereign creator, God is the only…Read more
  •  17
    Spinoza's Heresy: Immortality and the Jewish Mind (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 41 (1): 130-131. 2003.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Philosophy 41.1 (2003) 130-131 [Access article in PDF] Steven Nadler. Spinoza's Heresy: Immortality and the Jewish Mind. New York: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, 2001. Pp. xvi + 225. Cloth, $35.00. Steven Nadler's Spinoza's Heresy opens with the following declaration: "It is a splendid mystery" (1). The mystery, of course, is how a gifted son of the Jewish community of Amsterdam, a young man whom …Read more
  •  13
    The Objection from Touch: Sensation, Extension, and the Soul in Augustine’s The Quantity of the Soul
    History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 24 (2): 268-295. 2020.
    In The Quantity of the Soul, Augustine puts forward the view that the soul is immaterial and that its quantity (quantitas) must be understood in terms of power rather than spatial extension. Against this view, his friend and interlocutor Evodius raises an important objection, The Objection from Touch, which argues that the soul’s exercise of tactile sensation requires that it be extended through the parts of the body. This paper examines Evodius’s objection and Augustine’s response to it. Partic…Read more
  •  13
    Descartes and the Last Scholastics (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 38 (2): 275-277. 2000.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Descartes and the Last ScholasticsBlake D. DuttonRoger Ariew. Descartes and the Last Scholastics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999. Pp. xi + 230. Cloth, $42.50.The attempt to understand Descartes vis-à-vis the scholastic tradition dates back to the studies of Etienne Gilson early in this century. Though Descartes saw himself as a revolutionary who would overthrow the Aristotelianism entrenched in the universities, G…Read more
  •  12
    The Cambridge Companion to Augustine (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 40 (1): 118-119. 2002.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Philosophy 40.1 (2002) 118-119 [Access article in PDF] Book Review The Cambridge Companion to Augustine Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann, editors. The Cambridge Companion to Augustine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. xv + 307. Cloth, $59.95. Paper, $21.95. Given the immeasurable influence of Augustine upon the Western tradition, a volume devoted to him in the Cambridge Companion Series ha…Read more
  •  9
    External World Skepticism: The Deception of the Senses.
  •  6
    Bibliography
    In Augustine and Academic Skepticism: A Philosophical Study, Cornell University Press. pp. 257-264. 2016.
  •  4
    Afterword to Part I
    In Augustine and Academic Skepticism: A Philosophical Study, Cornell University Press. pp. 139-142. 2016.
  •  3
    Afterword to Part II
    In Augustine and Academic Skepticism: A Philosophical Study, Cornell University Press. pp. 253-256. 2016.