I am an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at East Tennessee State University. In the Spring of 2021, I will be a Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. In the past few years, I have taught at Cornell University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Missouri, and Emory & Henry College. I earned my Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University back in 2016.
I work on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. My main project right now examines the physics and metaphysics of the Hellenistic Stoics. The Stoics were physicalists, panentheists, and metaphysical foundationalists. I try to work out exactly …
I am an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at East Tennessee State University. In the Spring of 2021, I will be a Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. In the past few years, I have taught at Cornell University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Missouri, and Emory & Henry College. I earned my Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University back in 2016.
I work on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. My main project right now examines the physics and metaphysics of the Hellenistic Stoics. The Stoics were physicalists, panentheists, and metaphysical foundationalists. I try to work out exactly how they combined those views. Here's a problem: we don't have any complete, original Stoic treatises. So I also defend a "functionalist" interpretive methodology for sorting out the secondhand sources that report the Stoics' views. I also have interests in Stoic philosophy as a whole, Platonic psychology and metaphysics, and Aristotle's mereology and hylomorphism.
I am originally from a rural area in the Appalachian Mountains in Southwest Virginia. After bouncing around the country for a few years, I finished my undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia. I maintain several interests outside of the philosophy world. For example, I am a basketball fanatic, and I enjoy playing and watching--both the NBA and college! I also try to keep up with film, music, and literature. Some of my favorites include Southern Gothic lit, recent Americana and old country music, and 1980's grindhouse films. The dog pictured above is named Dave. We're pals.
