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7Schopenhauer on the inconsistency between optimism and personal immortalitySouthern Journal of Philosophy. forthcoming.For Schopenhauer, death, understood as the annihilation of an individual's existence, cannot be successfully accommodated by theories endorsing an optimistic assessment of both human life and the world at large. I argue that Schopenhauer also has reasons to think that optimism cannot adopt personal immortality as a solution to that problem, although he does not present them systematically. Thus, he argues, prolonging one's life would necessarily lead at some point to an unbearable state of exhau…Read more
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9Searching for the Divine in Plato and Aristotle: Philosophical Theoria and Traditional Practice. By Julie K. WardAncient Philosophy 43 (2): 547-551. 2023.
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17Schopenhauer's Critique of Spinoza's Pantheism, Optimism, and EgoismIn Yitzhak Y. Melamed (ed.), A Companion to Spinoza, Wiley. 2021.Schopenhauer shares with Spinoza the basic idea that “the world exists by its own inner power and through itself”. Spinoza's system, Schopenhauer maintains, elaborately captures the observation, at the core of both pantheism and Schopenhauer's own theory, that all experienced phenomena share a single metaphysical substratum, and that in this sense everything is one. Any view or system of thought upholding optimism must confront the challenge of accounting for those features of the world that app…Read more
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28The Value of the World and of Oneself: Philosophical Optimism and Pessimism From Aristotle to ModernityOxford University Press. 2022."This book examines the longstanding debate between philosophical optimism and pessimism in the history of philosophy, focusing on Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Camus. Philosophical optimists maintain that the world is optimally arranged and is accordingly valuable, and that the existence of human beings is preferable over their nonexistence. Philosophical pessimists, by contrast, hold that the world is in a woeful condition and ultimately valueless, and that human …Read more
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36Aristotle on the Beginning of Animal Life and Soul ActivitiesApeiron 56 (3): 587-619. 2023.For Aristotle, animals, by contrast to plants, possess a perceptual soul. However, there is disagreement concerning the point at which the perceptual soul is acquired, for him. On one influential interpretation, Aristotle thinks that the perceptual soul is acquired not during the initial formation of the embryo, but at some later stage of its development. On such interpretations of Aristotle’s view, the newly formed embryo is not yet an actual animal, but a plant-like living being or even inanim…Read more
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14What can Maimonides' understanding of the shamefulness of touch teach us about Aristotle's NE III.10, 1118b1–3?British Journal for the History of Philosophy 31 (3): 405-420. 2023.In NE III.10, 1118b1–3, Aristotle says that the “most shared of the senses is that according to which intemperance [comes about], and it would seem justifiably to be shameful, because it inheres [in us] not insofar as we are human beings, but insofar as we are animals”. This statement appears to describe the sense of touch as shameful. This may seem like a strange position for Aristotle to hold, since elsewhere he describes human touch as the most accurate among animal species, which corresponds…Read more
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22This book examines the longstanding debate between philosophical optimism and pessimism in the history of philosophy, focusing on Aristotle, Maimonides, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Camus. Philosophical optimists maintain that the world is optimally arranged and is accordingly valuable, and that the existence of human beings is preferable over their nonexistence. Philosophical pessimists, by contrast, hold that the world is in a woeful condition and ultimately valueless, and that human n…Read more
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19Aristotle's Ideal City-Planning: Politics 7.12Classical Quarterly 69 (2): 585-596. 2019.AtPol.7.12, 1331a19–20, Aristotle states it as a matter of fact that the citizenry of the best city should be divided into ‘public messes’ (syssitia). His primary concern in the rest of the chapter is to uncover the optimal way in whichsyssitiashould be organized, and the way in which they should be situated in relation to other facilities, public buildings,agoraiand temples in the city. The proposed plan is roughly as follows.Syssitiawould be divided into three main sections. First, thesyssitia…Read more
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22Aristotle on the Proper Attitude Toward True DivinityAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 94 (2): 187-209. 2020.Aristotle does not explicitly state how it is that one should ideally relate to the true gods of his metaphysics, like the prime mover. He does, however, speak of an unreciprocated relationship of friendship between humans and such gods. I argue that Aristotle’s conception of the magnanimous person sheds light on that relationship. The magnanimous person, who is a philosopher, devalues humanity and devotes her life and efforts to the divine. Thus, contrary to some scholars, Aristotle’s conceptio…Read more
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29Aristotle on Plato’s Republic VIII-IX: Politics v. 12, 1316a1-b27Polis 35 (2): 374-400. 2018.Toward the end of Politics V. 12, Aristotle criticizes Plato’s discussion of political change in Republic VIII-IX. Scholars often reject Aristotle’s criticism, especially because it portrays Plato’s discussion, allegedly unfairly, as developing a historically testable theory. I argue that Aristotle’s criticism is adequate, and that the seriousness with which he considers Plato’s account of political change as an alternative to his own is both warranted and instructive. First, apart from criticiz…Read more
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28Traditional Religion and Its Natural Function in AristotleClassical World: A Quarterly Journal on Antiquity 111 (3): 295-320. 2018.
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48Aristotle on Nature, Human Nature and Human UnderstandingRhizomata 5 (2): 177-209. 2017.Name der Zeitschrift: Rhizomata Jahrgang: 5 Heft: 2 Seiten: 177-209.
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122‘Obviously all this Agrees with my Will and my Intellect’: Schopenhauer on Active and PassiveNousin Aristotle'sDe Animaiii.5British Journal for the History of Philosophy 22 (3): 535-556. 2014.In one of the unpublished parts of his manuscript titled the Spicilegia, Arthur Schopenhauer presents an uncharacteristically sympathetic reading of an Aristotelian text. The text in question, De anima III. 5, happens to include the only occurrence of arguably the most controversial idea in Aristotle, namely the distinction between active and passive nous. Schopenhauer interprets these two notions as corresponding to his own notions of the ?will? and the ?intellect? or ?subject of knowledge?, re…Read more
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89The Teleological Significance of Dreaming in AristotleOxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 43 107-141. 2012.In his discussions of dreaming in the Parva Naturalia, Aristotle neither claims nor denies that dreams serve a natural purpose. Modern scholarship generally interprets dreaming as useless and teleologically irrelevant for him. I argue that Aristotle's teleology permits certain types of dream to have a natural role in end-directed processes. Dreams are left-overs from waking experience, but they may, like certain bodily residues, be used by nature, which does ‘nothing in vain’ and makes use of av…Read more
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12Aristotle on ReligionCambridge University Press. 2017.Aristotle is a severe critic of traditional religion, believing it to be false, yet he also holds that traditional religion and its institutions are necessary if any city, including the ideal city he describes in the Politics, is to exist and flourish. This book provides, for the first time, a coherent account of the socio-political role which Aristotle attributes to traditional religion despite his rejection of its content. Mor Segev argues that Aristotle thinks traditional religion is politica…Read more
Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Religion |
Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy |
19th Century Philosophy |