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Living without a Soul: Why God and the Heavenly Movers Fall Outside of Aristotle’s PsychologyPhronesis 65 (3): 281-323. 2020.I argue that the science of the soul only covers sublunary living things. Aristotle cannot properly ascribe ψυχή to unmoved movers since they do not have any capacities that are distinct from their activities or any matter to be structured. Heavenly bodies do not have souls in the way that mortal living things do, because their matter is not subject to alteration or generation. These beings do not fit into the hierarchy of soul powers that Aristotle relies on to provide unity to ψυχή. Their livi…Read more
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Nous in Aristotle's De AnimaPhilosophy Compass 9 (9): 594-604. 2014.I lay out and examine two sharply conflicting interpretations of Aristotle's claims about nous in the De Anima (DA). On the human separability approach, Aristotle is taken to have identified reasons for thinking that the intellect can, in some way, exist on its own. On the naturalist approach, the soul, including intellectual soul, is inseparable from the body of which it is the form. I discuss how proponents of each approach deal with the key texts from the DA, focusing on four of the most impo…Read more
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Why the One Cannot Have Parts: Plotinus on Divine Simplicity, Ontological Independence, and Perfect Being TheologyPhilosophical Quarterly 67 (269): 751-771. 2017.I use Plotinus to present absolute divine simplicity as the consequence of principles about metaphysical and explanatory priority to which most theists are already committed. I employ Phil Corkum’s account of ontological independence as independent status to present a new interpretation of Plotinus on the dependence of everything on the One. On this reading, if something else (whether an internal part or something external) makes you what you are, then you are ontologically dependent on it. I sh…Read more
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- Philosophical Views
Denver, Colorado, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy |